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I have tried many things, but I'm new to the shell. Is it possible to have both double and single quotes within an echo?

I want to generate echo "scan 'LPV',{FILTER => "(PrefixFilter ('MP1-Eq1')"}" for system call, but I am getting an error because of the mutiple double and single quotes.

ftable="echo" " \"" "scan" " " "'LPV',{FILTER => " "\"" "\(" "PrefixFilter ""\(""'MP1-Eq1'" "\)" "\"" "\}" "\" "    
echo "scan 'LPV',{FILTER => "(PrefixFilter ('MP1-Eq1')"}"
bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('

How can I write scan 'LPV',{FILTER => "(PrefixFilter ('MP1-Eq1')"}? The syntax is hbase's and I can't change it...

EDIT

I want to call echo within system call. 

ftable="echo "scan 'LPV',{FILTER => "(PrefixFilter ('MP1-Eq1')"}" "
system(ftable)
error

I have tried with $ but

ftable="echo $'scan" "\'" "LPV" "\'" ",{FILTER => " "\"" "(PrefixFilter (" "\'" "MP1-Eq1" "\'" ")" "\"" "}' '"
system(ftable)
error

Getting an error because of double quote.

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2
  • What language is this system()? Commented Jun 2, 2014 at 10:13
  • basically i m calling within my awk script. Commented Jun 2, 2014 at 10:19

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
8

In bash:

echo $'scan \'LPV\',{FILTER => "(PrefixFilter (\'MP1-Eq1\')"}'

or

echo "scan 'LPV',{FILTER => \"(PrefixFilter ('MP1-Eq1')\"}'"

For longer strings this may be a more convinient alternative:

> cat <<EOT
scan 'LPV',{FILTER => "(PrefixFilter ('MP1-Eq1')"}
EOT

with EOT or \EOT, depending on whether parameter expansion and quote removal (backslash) are intended or not.

Usage within awk

Defining this string within awk would make everything even more complex. This should be done outside awk in the shell:

ftable=$'echo "scan \'LPV\',{FILTER => "(PrefixFilter (\'MP1-Eq1\')"}"'
# echo "$ftable"
awk -v ftable="$ftable" '... system(ftable); ...'
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4
  • @huake i am unable to call this from system. Commented Jun 2, 2014 at 9:24
  • @Aashu I'm afraid I don't understand this remark. Commented Jun 2, 2014 at 14:32
  • actually i have some prameter which i am reading from file in awk and want to pass within this string,which i want to run on system(ftable). Commented Jun 2, 2014 at 14:34
  • @Aashu It seems to me that awk wasn't mentioned before... However, I have extended my answer. Commented Jun 2, 2014 at 14:48
2

You just have to escape double quote inside double quote:

$ ftable="echo \"scan 'LPV',{FILTER => \"(PrefixFilter ('MP1-Eq1')\"}\""
$ echo $ftable
echo "scan 'LPV',{FILTER => "(PrefixFilter ('MP1-Eq1')"}"
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