Re: Re: Re: system, pipes, shell, quoting

Do you have any specific implementation examples of how to quote arbitrary characters to the shell in a system or open ?

I avoid situations where arbitrary characters have to be quoted. In the rare case where I have a CGI form that accepts something like a filename, I'll reject the name if it contains any funny characters. Trying to escape funny characters is a losing battle.

I also keep my filenames simple (using only alphanumerics, underscores, dashes, and periods).

Comment on Re: Re: Re: system, pipes, shell, quoting

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Re: Re: Re: system, pipes, shell, quoting by superpete (Beadle) on Nov 13, 2002 at 06:32 UTC
Alas, I do not have the luxury of making up my own filenames. I am working on a "utility" type program executed from crontab rather than as a CGI, and my filenames come from walking a directory tree. The files might be generated by anything, and I want to cover all the bases. Trying to escape funny characters is a losing battle. Well... sort-of. Not a problem when doing straight open's, or simple system's (systen with a list of arguments avoids the shell). When launching a "pipeline" of several external programs, the shell provides tremendous convenience... see original post.	[reply]

Replies are listed 'Best First'.

Re: Re: Re: Re: system, pipes, shell, quoting
by superpete (Beadle) on Nov 13, 2002 at 06:32 UTC

I am working on a "utility" type program executed from crontab rather than as a CGI, and my filenames come from walking a directory tree. The files might be generated by anything, and I want to cover all the bases.

Trying to escape funny characters is a losing battle.

Well... sort-of. Not a problem when doing straight open's, or simple system's (systen with a list of arguments avoids the shell).

When launching a "pipeline" of several external programs, the shell provides tremendous convenience... see original post.

[reply]