Replacing single quotes and backslashes in strings

People,

I have been trying to find a solution to this on the net but with no
luck:

I want to get a list of file names from a dir and pass the result to a
du command eg:

puts `du file_name`

but if the filename has single quotes or backslashes in it eg:

puts `du phil'sfile_name`    or:    puts `du phil\sfile_name`

I have replace them with eg:

puts `du phil\'sfile_name`    or:    puts `du phil\\sfile_name`

I have tried all sorts of combinations with gsub with no success . .

Is there a solution with gsub or something else?

Thanks,

Phil.

Philip R.

Pricom Pty Limited (ACN 003 252 275 ABN 91 003 252 275)
GPO Box 3411
Sydney NSW 2001
Australia
Mobile: +61:(0)411-185-652
Fax: +61:(0)2-8221-9599
E-mail: [email protected]

Logan,

On Tue, 2005-12-20 at 19:02 +0900, Logan C. wrote:

puts `du file_name`

Sydney NSW 2001
Australia
Mobile: +61:(0)411-185-652
Fax: +61:(0)2-8221-9599
E-mail: [email protected]

str = %q{du phil’sfile_name}
puts #{str.gsub(/['\\]/) { |meta_char| case meta_char; when "\\"; "\\ \\"; when "'"; "\\'"; end }}

Whew!

Why doesn’t this work?:

line = line.gsub( /’/ ‘, "’" )
line = line.gsub( ‘\’, “\\” )
puts du #{line}

Thanks,

Phil.

Philip R.

Pricom Pty Limited (ACN 003 252 275 ABN 91 003 252 275)
GPO Box 3411
Sydney NSW 2001
Australia
Mobile: +61:(0)411-185-652
Fax: +61:(0)2-8221-9599
E-mail: [email protected]

On Dec 20, 2005, at 4:15 AM, Phil R. wrote:

but if the filename has single quotes or backslashes in it eg:

Mobile: +61:(0)411-185-652
Fax: +61:(0)2-8221-9599
E-mail: [email protected]

str = %q{du phil’sfile_name}
puts #{str.gsub(/['\\]/) { |meta_char| case meta_char; when "\\"; "\\ \\"; when "'"; "\\'"; end }}

On Dec 20, 2005, at 5:41 AM, Philip R. wrote:

I want to get a list of file names from a dir and pass the result
puts du phil\'sfile_name or: puts du phil\\sfile_name

puts `#{str.gsub(/[’\]/) { |meta_char| case meta_char; when “\”;
line = line.gsub( ‘\’, “\\” )
GPO Box 3411
Sydney NSW 2001
Australia
Mobile: +61:(0)411-185-652
Fax: +61:(0)2-8221-9599
E-mail: [email protected]

Well, since `` invokes your shell you have to sort of “double-escape”
the meta characters of single quotes. For instance with single quotes
if you escape it once just for ruby, its not escaped for the shell so
it may try to quote with single quotes instead of considering the
single quote part of the file name. line.gsub(’\’, “\\”) should
work but you have to be a little more careful with quotes. eg.
line.gsub(/’/, “\’”). My code was meant to be extra-smart about the
escaping. You don’t want to “over-escape” either.