# Q: Change shell for backquotes

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/q-change-shell-for-backquotes/143642>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [July 21, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/q-change-shell-for-backquotes/143642 "2008-07-21T13:56:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![GSRalph\_KuntzS\_MD](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/c89c15/32.png) [@GSRalph\_KuntzS\_MD](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/GSRalph_KuntzS_MD)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/q-change-shell-for-backquotes/143642/1 "2008-07-21T13:56:02Z")

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I am running the native (One-Click Installer) version of Ruby under  
Windows, and for various reasons, cannot run the cygwin version. Is  
there a way to specify that Ruby should use the cygwin bash as its  
shell for backquotes (and Kernel.exec, etc)? I am getting “funny”  
results calling PostgreSQL’s psql because of quoting and cmd.

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**Author:** ![GSRalph\_KuntzS\_MD](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/c89c15/32.png) [@GSRalph\_KuntzS\_MD](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/GSRalph_KuntzS_MD)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 10:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/q-change-shell-for-backquotes/143642/2 "2008-07-21T22:11:50Z")

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Hi,

At Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:49:39 +0900,  
G. Ralph Kuntz, MD, MS wrote in [ruby-talk:308709]:

> I am running the native (One-Click Installer) version of Ruby under  
> Windows, and for various reasons, cannot run the cygwin version. Is  
> there a way to specify that Ruby should use the cygwin bash as its  
> shell for backquotes (and Kernel.exec, etc)? I am getting “funny”  
> results calling PostgreSQL’s psql because of quoting and cmd.

# What a challenger you are. 🙂

Try setting RUBYSHELL to the path to bash.exe in Windows style.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GSRalph\_KuntzS\_MD](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/c89c15/32.png) [@GSRalph\_KuntzS\_MD](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/GSRalph_KuntzS_MD)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 1:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/q-change-shell-for-backquotes/143642/3 "2008-07-22T13:30:42Z")

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thanks.