I have the following code:
a="$(date)"
echo $a
I want the result of that echo be $(date), not the actual date.
How to achive that?
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Dare I ask why you would want to store a shell command substitution, unexpanded, in a variable? Storing code in variables is sometimes, but very seldom, the right thing to do.Kusalananda– Kusalananda ♦2018-10-05 16:02:12 +00:00Commented Oct 5, 2018 at 16:02
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The real case was with the $PS1 variable. The thing is i wanted to know where was defined, so i needed the code to do a grep in files, but when i did echo "$PS1" it was interpreted. Anyway, i could find the location without doing this, but the question remained, if it was possible.Nestoter– Nestoter2018-10-05 17:02:18 +00:00Commented Oct 5, 2018 at 17:02
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2 Answers
You can't with double quotes, as the assignment had taken place in the first line. Unless you escape the dollar sign:
$ a="\$(date)"
$ echo "$a"
$(date)
$ eval echo "$a"
Fri 5 Oct 18:53:45 CEST 2018
And with single quotes, you might do these:
$ a='$(date)'
$ echo "$a"
$(date)
$ eval echo "$a"
Fri 5 Oct 16:45:45 CEST 2018
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1of course you can, you just have to escape the
$glenn jackman– glenn jackman2018-10-05 15:01:25 +00:00Commented Oct 5, 2018 at 15:01 -
Hmm, so there is no way to tell a="$(date)" to print just the value, without beign interpreted? The question came because i'm echoing a variable and i'm getting the result, but i would like to know the code behind.Nestoter– Nestoter2018-10-05 16:38:41 +00:00Commented Oct 5, 2018 at 16:38
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@Nestoter See my updated answer.user147505– user1475052018-10-05 16:55:54 +00:00Commented Oct 5, 2018 at 16:55
Use the '' insted of ""
a='$(date)'
