Bash shell script function gives "find: missing argument to `-exec'" error

Question

I wrote a function in a Bash shell script to search a Linux tree for filenames matching a pattern containing a regular expression, with colour highlighting:

function ggrep {
 LS_="ls --color {}|sed s~./~~"
 [ -n "$1" -a "$1" != "*" ] && NAME_="-iname $1" || NAME_=
 [ -n "$2" ] && EXEC_="egrep -q \"$2\" \"{}\" && $LS_ && egrep -n \"$2\" --color=always \"{}\"|sed s~^B~\ B~" || EXEC_=$LS_
 FIND_="find . -type f $NAME_ -exec sh -c \"$EXEC_\" \\;"
 echo -e \\e[7m $FIND_ \\e[0m
 $FIND_
}

e.g. ggrep a* lists all files starting with a under the current directory tree,

and ggrep a* x lists of files starting with a and containing x

When I run it, I get:

find: missing argument to `-exec'

even though I get the correct output when I copy and paste the line output by "echo" into the terminal. Can anyone please tell me what I've done wrong?

Secondly, it would be great if ggrep * x listed all files containing x, but * expands to a list of filenames and I need to use \* or '*' instead. Is there a way around this? Thanks!

As a general rule, putting commands as strings into shell variables and running them later is going to cause lots of quoting pain. I would advise finding another way to solve your problem. If you must store commands in variables, use arrays. — Mark Reed
– Mark Reed, Commented Jan 13, 2015 at 13:22

Avinash Raj · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-13 12:57:48Z

2

Terminate the find command with \; instead of \\; .

find . -type f $NAME_ -exec sh -c \"$EXEC_\" \;

answered Jan 13, 2015 at 12:57

Avinash Raj

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6 Comments

Gnubie Over a year ago

Thanks, Avinash, but I get the same error. In fact, having from 1 to 4 (inclusive) backslashes gives the same result (same echo output too).

Karoly Horvath Over a year ago

of course. you're doing it within quotes, so there's no need to escape ; at all.

Gnubie Over a year ago

Thanks, too, Karoly. Not having the backslash gives "--color: 1: --color: Syntax error: Unterminated quoted string" for each file in the tree.

evilive Over a year ago

Have you tried find . -type f $NAME_ -exec sh -c \"$EXEC_\" {} \;?

evilive Over a year ago

So...let's wait for @Gnubie

|

Tomasz Żuk · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-13 14:02:25Z

1

eval $FIND_

in the last line of the function body works fine for me.

Expansions in BASH are generally not recursive, so if you load a command from a variable, you should always use "eval" to enforce reprocessing the expanded variable as it was a fresh input. Normally quotes are not handled properly within a string that has already been expanded.

To your second problem, I think there is no satisfactory solution. The shell will always expand * before passing it to anything controlled by you. You can disable this expansion, but that is a global setting. Anyway, I think that this expansion could actually act in favor of your function. Consider rewriting it in a way that takes advantage of it. (I did not analyze whether the current version was close to that or not.)

edited Jan 13, 2015 at 14:02

answered Jan 13, 2015 at 13:29

Tomasz Żuk

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1 Comment

Gnubie Over a year ago

Well done, Tomasz: eval solves the problem! Thanks too for explaining the * expansion. Guess I've to use a different symbol to save some typing...

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