shell script - need to escape filenames

[talz13]

I'm trying to write a shell script that will handle filename inputs (or a directory via output of 'ls'):


#! /bin/bash

if [ -e $1 ]
then
if [ -f $1 ]
then
# it's a file, start processing it...
echo "Processing a single file...";
command="~/Downloads/encode-handheld-1.9.pl -t psp -threads 4 -f $1";
echo $command;
elif [ -d $1 ]
then
# it's a directory, list the contents and start processing them in a batch...
echo "Processing an entire directory...";
for i in $(ls $1 | grep -v db\$);
do
`~/Downloads/encode-handheld-1.9.pl -t psp -threads 4 -f $1/$i`;
done
fi
fi

But when the filename contains spaces, brackets, or other special characters, it either drops the escape \ or doesn't receive an escape to begin with (i.e. from 'ls' output). Is there a way to programatically escape these characters so that it can find the files?

Example:
jeff@server:~$ ls /home/shares/video/anime/bleach/
[DB]_Bleach_183_[07493DEF].avi [DB]_Bleach_185_[B1B2B639].avi
[DB]_Bleach_184_[CC171141].avi [DB]_Bleach_186_[37E46364].avi
jeff@server:~$ ./pspEncoder.sh /home/shares/video/anime/bleach/\[DB\]_Bleach_183_\[07493DEF\].avi
Processing a single file...
~/Downloads/encode-handheld-1.9.pl -t psp -threads 4 -f /home/shares/video/anime/bleach/[DB]_Bleach_183_[07493DEF].avi
jeff@server:~$

It completes "successfully" even though it didn't actually run (since it couldn't find a file "[DB]_Bleach_183_[07493DEF].avi", it needs to find "\[DB\]_Bleach_183_\[07493DEF\].avi" instead...)

[ghostdog74]

try using


for i in $1/*
do
...
done


instead of


for i in $(ls ... )
do
...
done

[mssever]

I'm trying to write a shell script that will handle filename inputs (or a directory via output of 'ls'): Try this (my changes are in bold):


#! /bin/bash

if [ -e $1 ]
then
if [ -f $1 ]; then
# it's a file, start processing it...
echo "Processing a single file..."
"$HOME"/Downloads/encode-handheld-1.9.pl -t psp -threads 4 -f "$1"
elif [ -d $1 ]; then
# it's a directory, list the contents and start processing them in a batch...
echo "Processing an entire directory..."
for i in "$1"/*; do
"$HOME"/Downloads/encode-handheld-1.9.pl -t psp -threads 4 -f "$1/$i"
done
fi
fiA few of my changes are stylistic changes to reflect the way most people format their bash scripts. Also, you don't need to end lines with a semicolon unless you're putting multiple lines on a single line.