From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG  Tue Apr 13 03:29:18 2004
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125])
	by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2673E16A4CE
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Tue, 13 Apr 2004 03:29:18 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from dyer.circlesquared.com
	(host217-45-219-83.in-addr.btopenworld.com [217.45.219.83])
	by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BC8FB43D53
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Tue, 13 Apr 2004 03:29:09 -0700 (PDT)
	(envelope-from peter@circlesquared.com)
Received: from circlesquared.com (localhost.petanna.net [127.0.0.1])
	i3DAXTdu051578	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Tue, 13 Apr 2004 11:33:41 +0100 (BST)
	(envelope-from peter@circlesquared.com)
Message-ID: <407BC1F9.4050305@circlesquared.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 11:33:29 +0100
From: Peter Risdon <peter@circlesquared.com>
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.7b) Gecko/20040327
X-Accept-Language: en-us, en
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: FreeBSD Question List <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
References: <40757879.1010307@circlesquared.com>
	<20040408165511.GD8182@dan.emsphone.com>
In-Reply-To: <20040408165511.GD8182@dan.emsphone.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Subject: Problems with filename with spaces (was Pipes and commands
	thatrequire two arguments)
X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1
Precedence: list
List-Id: User questions <freebsd-questions.freebsd.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>,
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions>
List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>,
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 10:29:18 -0000

Thanks very much for the previous help - I missed the example in man xargs.

The files I am trying to manipulate include spaces in the file names, 
and I cannot seem to escape them effectively. If I try something like:

#find /usr/home -name *.rtf.exe -print0 | perl -p -e 's/\ /\\\ /g;' | 
xargs -0 -J % mv % /usr/newplace/

Then although all spaces are preceded by backslashes I get errors every 
time a space is encountered. So for a file at /usr/home/user/this is a 
file.rtf.exe I get file does not exist errors from mv at:
/usr/home/user/this\
and at:
is\
and at:
a\
and at:
file.rtf.exe (yes, a windows virus on a network share has been busy).

I have also tried

#find /usr/home -name *.rtf.exe -print0 | perl -p -e 's/\ /\\\ /g;' > 
listofdodgyfiles

and the list is fine. If I paste a line into mv on the command line, it 
works. If I use a simple script to read the file, same errors as 
mentioned above.

I'm sure I'm missing something obvious... Any nudges in the right 
direction would be gratefully received.

PWR.