Calling perl replacement from within a bash script/function?

Question

In my bash_profile I have this:

  function ht() { perl -i -pe 's|<!-- Mirrored from (.*?) -->\n||' "$a" ;}

I want to run ht to do an inline replacement on the file fed to remove an HTML Comment with the HTTrack signature, but when I run this,

ht file.html

I get:

Can't open : No such file or directory.

I suspect this is because of the quotes around my $a which interfere with the perl command being fed. Perhaps it prefixes the " literally to the filename, or something of this nature and overall it becomes the wrong filename.

I tried removing the double quotes around my $a but that doesn't seem to do what I want. How can I resolve this?

I thought $a was magical bash syntax for the command line arguments fed. I used it in another function to do the same exact thing. — meder omuraliev
– meder omuraliev, Commented May 14, 2012 at 17:32
I think you are referring to $@. Generally quoted, just as you have, "$@". — jwd
– jwd, Commented May 14, 2012 at 17:33
Nice catch @jwd, I sleazily incorporated that find into my answer... I had decided @meder needed $* but didn't notice she was trying to use "$a" instead. — Rob I
– Rob I, Commented May 14, 2012 at 17:34

Rob I · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-14 23:33:42Z

3

You have to tell perl what file you're trying to run with. Change to this:

function ht() { perl -i -pe 's|<!-- Mirrored from (.*?) -->\n||' "$@";}

Note the $@ instead of "$a" at the end. As @jwd points out, that's even better than $* in most cases.

edited May 14, 2012 at 23:33

answered May 14, 2012 at 17:31

Rob I

5,7572 gold badges24 silver badges29 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

jwd Over a year ago

Note that $@ is usually preferred to $*, since when quoted (as "$@") it will correctly deal with filenames that contain spaces.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Calling perl replacement from within a bash script/function?

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related