Question

I have a following bash script:

 1  #!/bin/bash
 2  query='query= SELECT * WHERE { ?s ?p ?o } LIMIT 5'
 3  cmd="curl $1 -s -d \"$query\""
 4  echo "$cmd"
 5  # curl $1 -s -d "$query"
 6  # $cmd

5th and 6th lines must do the same. When i uncomment the 5th line, everything works fine. But with the 6th line nothing doesn’t work.

So i’m wondering whats the difference?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Line 5 passes $query as a single argument. Line 6 passes each word of $query as a separate argument, with " at the beginning of the first and " at the end of the last. Put your arguments in an array instead.