Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 02:34:11 GMT From: "gs_stoller@juno.com" <gs_stoller@juno.com> To: tigger@lvlworld.com Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: RE: unexpected result from sh script with `date` Message-ID: <20070205.183452.10246.1290258@webmail30.nyc.untd.com>
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On Fri, 2 Feb 2007 22:11:56 +1100, Tigger <tigger@lvlworld.com> wrote=
> Hello, the following simply sh script is outputting unexpected results=
.
> Any idea why?
> --script--
> #!/bin/sh
> started=3D`date`
> echo "Started at: $started"
> echo "Finished : "`date`
> exit
> --output--
> Started at: Fri Feb 2 22:13:51 EST 2007
> Finished : Fri Feb 2 22:13:51 EST 2007
> --problem--
> Between 'Feb' and '2', there is two spaces on the 'Started at' line,
> however the 'Finished' one only has 1 space.
> I know this sounds picky, but I was not expecting this at all.
It is not a problem with date , it did the same thing both times. The=
echo command coalesces consecutive blank space characters down to one=
blank unless they are quoted. If you change the line
echo "Finished : "`date`
to be
echo "Finished : `date`"
it will do what you expect.
[snip]
=
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