Shell script: call command containing variable

Question

What is wrong with this script?

#!/bin/sh
SONAR="~/SonarQube/bin/linux-x86-64/sonar.sh"
echo "Waiting to start..."
$($SONAR start)

It says ./start.sh: 4: ./start.sh: ~/SonarQube/bin/linux-x86-64/sonar.sh: not found but it does exist. I tried a huge amount of variations it does work only with eval: eval $SONAR start.

I don't have access to a bourne shell at the moment, but you might try adding a -x after the /bin/sh... "#!/bin/sh -x" which will echo the commands before it executes them. This might give you more insight into what is actually happening. — Owen Ivory
– Owen Ivory, Commented Apr 27, 2017 at 22:56

Fred · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-27 23:00:16Z

4

Try this instead :

#!/bin/sh
SONAR=~/"SonarQube/bin/linux-x86-64/sonar.sh"
echo "Waiting to start..."
"$SONAR" start

Tilde expansion is disabled by quoting (like globbing), so you need to put the tilde outside the quotes.

The last line should not be inside $(), as doing this first executes the command, and then expands the content and tries to execute a commande expressed by such content.

edited Apr 27, 2017 at 23:00

answered Apr 27, 2017 at 22:54

Fred

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2 Comments

Fred Over a year ago

Please try again, I fixed the code, the slash needs to be outside the double quotes too.

Fred Over a year ago

Please note I have added double quotes around the $SONAR expansions, in case the path were to contain characters that could trigger word splitting (such as spaces).

Petr Skocik · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-27 23:03:31Z

3

Scripts usually use $HOME instead of ~. $HOME will expand even inside double quotes.

#!/bin/sh
SONAR="$HOME/SonarQube/bin/linux-x86-64/sonar.sh"
echo "Waiting to start..."
"$SONAR" start

edited Apr 27, 2017 at 23:03

answered Apr 27, 2017 at 22:56

Petr Skocik

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Comments

yoones · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-27 23:05:33Z

2

You're using the ~ between doublequotes, so it's not going to be interpreted as /home/whatever.

#!/bin/sh
SONAR=~/SonarQube/bin/linux-x86-64/sonar.sh

edited Apr 27, 2017 at 23:05

answered Apr 27, 2017 at 22:56

yoones

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4 Comments

yoones Over a year ago

I'm not sure why biowep did that, so since the question isn't about this part, I don't think it's worth changing.

Fred Over a year ago

It sure warrants at least a warning, as someone who needs help with tilde expansion is very likely to not fully understand this line.

barsdeveloper Over a year ago

@yoones I wanted to verify the output of the command into an if. For faster read I provided only the minimal ammount of code necessary to expose the problem.

yoones Over a year ago

@biowep OK I removed the line. If this answers your question please accept it as answer.

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