Problem with run commands in shell (bash) with arguments as variables !

Question

(Sorry for the confusion. Previous $ sign occurred when I tried to simplify the actual problem. Thanks for correcting the question)

I wanted to split a directory name on underscores (ex: dir_to_split="my_test_dir") like this:

my_dir=($dir_to_split)
var=$(echo $my_dir | awk -F"_" '{print $1,$2,$3}')   
set -- $var

splited_1=$1
splited_2=$2
splited_3=$3

now using these splited_x is causing me errors. ex.

myprograme $splited_1 $splited_2 $splited_3

Can anyone please help me with this ? Thank you....

This is confusing. Are you now saying that even after removing $ from first statement, it is still not working? — Manoj R, Oct 12 '10 at 10:08
Sorry guys, above is the real example. $ sign error occurred when I tried to simplify the problem — Morpheus, Oct 12 '10 at 10:19
What are the exact errors? It's rather hard to diagnose a problem without knowing what it is. — outis, Oct 12 '10 at 10:46
Actually, no errors in the display. But happening is $splited_1 is contain all the data as same as $dir_to_split and others (splited_x) don't. Now I think, above spiting thing isn't working anymore. — Morpheus, Oct 12 '10 at 10:59

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:47

1

(Rewritten after updated question.)

What kind of errors do you get? I find it useful to add set -x to the top of my shell scripts when debugging, this lets the shell print all commands it executes so you can pinpoint the line where problems begin.

Are you sure that $dir_to_split is actually set? Does it contain spaces or tabs? Does it contain two underscores? I don't see any other problems right now.

There are in-shell methods of splitting a variable such as:

dir="my_test_dir"
OIFS="$IFS"
IFS="-"
set --
IFS="$OIFS"

See also this SO question.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:47

Community

1
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answered Oct 12 '10 at 10:03

schot

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I've corrected your answer's code example (I think it's now what you really mean) – Delan Azabani Oct 12 '10 at 10:05
In which case do you not mean: temp="app" dir_name=$temp mkdir $dir_name – Liam Bailey Oct 12 '10 at 10:05
@Delan: Thanks, just spotted it myself and was correcting it when I saw a nice popup appear. – schot Oct 12 '10 at 10:06
I'm sorry for my mistake on posting the question. Actually I simplified the code, so pls let me try my original code. – Morpheus Oct 12 '10 at 10:10
$dir_to_split is actually set, and no spaces, tabs. but only underscores. Let me try your method. – Morpheus Oct 12 '10 at 10:49
hey ! how can I then access the individual elements in that array, without that for loop ? – Morpheus Oct 12 '10 at 10:51
@Morpheus: Your elements are still `$1`, `$2`, etc. – schot Oct 14 '10 at 08:00

Problem with run commands in shell (bash) with arguments as variables !

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