read command weirdness

2007-12-25 10:12:00

Sometimes, it doesn't pay to get outta bed in the morning.

There are a lot of people who responded, too numerous to mention...

The original problem:

Okay, try this:

Make a plain text file called bob containing the following three lines:

Welcome to a brand

new very ultra

new day.

Note there are two spaces between new and very on the second line.

On the command line, type:

$ while read confusing ; do

> echo $confusing

> done < bob

< expect some output>

Did the double space on the second line go away? It went away for me and

I've duplicated this on 2.6 and 2.5.1. Anyone know why this is happening?

The solution:

Put double quotes around $confusing. The echo statement was treating each

word as a parameter and thus nuked the extra space. Double quotes protect

the spacing. Of course, we all knew that because we're masters of the basic

unix shells, right?

Thanks to all the extra pairs of eyes, I knew it had to be simple, but I

kept looking and could not see... "Every now and then go away, have a

little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will

be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and

more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion

is more readily seen." - Leonardo Da Vinci

Cheers,

Scott G. Link

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Alpha Page: 800-724-3508, PIN 382-5992

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