Can't seem to print variable within <string> </string>

Question

Ran into another roadblock. I'm to generate text that looks like the following.

<dict>
            <key>cfurl_string</key>
            <string>/Applications/Launchpad.app</string>
        </dict>
        <dict>
            <key>cfurl_string</key>
            <string>/Applications/Safari.app</string>
        </dict>
        <dict>
            <key>cfurl_string</key>
            <string>/Applications/Photos.app</string>
        </dict>

It's not too complex, but here is the code used to generate this:

for i in $(cut -d "," -f1 $1); do
 printf '<dict>\n'
 printf ' <key>cfurl_string</key>\n'
 printf ' <string>'
 echo -n "$i"
 printf '</string>\n'
 printf '</dict>\n'

done
echo "</array>"

where $1 is a csv file that a user specifies. A column contains a list of application locations:

/Applications/Launchpad
/Applications/Safari
/Applications/Pages
/Applications/Numbers
/Applications/Keynote
/Applications/Photos
/Applications/iMovie
/Applications/GarageBand
/Applications/Microsoft Word
/Applications/Microsoft Excel

When I run the script without the variable, I get this:

<array>
<dict>
 <key>cfurl_string</key>
 <string></string>
</dict>
<dict>
 <key>cfurl_string</key>
 <string></string>
</dict>
<dict>
 <key>cfurl_string</key>
 <string></string>
</dict>
<dict>
 <key>cfurl_string</key>
 <string></string>
</dict>
<dict>
 <key>cfurl_string</key>
 <string></string>
</dict>
<dict>
 <key>cfurl_string</key>
 <string></string>
</dict>
<dict>
 <key>cfurl_string</key>
 <string></string>
</dict>
<dict>
 <key>cfurl_string</key>
 <string></string>
</dict>
<dict>
 <key>cfurl_string</key>
 <string></string>
</dict>
<dict>
 <key>cfurl_string</key>
 <string></string>
</dict>
</array>

But if I run the command with the variable printed, it causes it to act weird EXCEPT for the last value in the loop.

.app</string>lications/GarageBand
</dict>
<dict>
 <key>cfurl_string</key>
.app</string>lications/Microsoft Word
</dict>
<dict>
 <key>cfurl_string</key>
 <string>/Applications/Microsoft Excel.app</string>
</dict>
</array>

I've tried tricking it, but once I get it in the way that i want it, it acts weird. Any help would be appreciated.

when I do that, I get this: ✗ cat -v dockcsv.csv /Applications/Launchpad^M /Applications/Safari^M /Applications/Pages^M /Applications/Numbers^M /Applications/Keynote^M /Applications/Photos^M /Applications/iMovie^M /Applications/GarageBand^M /Applications/Microsoft Word^M /Applications/Microsoft Excel% — Johnathan Brown Johnny
– Johnathan Brown Johnny, Commented Oct 31, 2017 at 15:54
BTW, see the very first item in the "Before Asking About Problematic Code" section of the bash tag wiki. — Charles Duffy
– Charles Duffy, Commented Oct 31, 2017 at 15:57
rookie mistake, this would have helped so much. noted and appreciated — Johnathan Brown Johnny
– Johnathan Brown Johnny, Commented Oct 31, 2017 at 16:03
Read these: mywiki.wooledge.org/DontReadLinesWithFor and mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ/001 — glenn jackman
– glenn jackman, Commented Oct 31, 2017 at 16:34

chepner · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-31 17:01:40Z

1

Replace loop for by while :

while IFS="," read i
do
 printf '<dict>\n'
 printf ' <key>cfurl_string</key>\n'
 printf ' <string>'
 printf ' <string>%s</string>\n' "$i"
 printf '</string>\n'
 printf '</dict>\n'
done < "$1"
printf "</array>\n"

edited Oct 31, 2017 at 17:01

chepner

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answered Oct 31, 2017 at 15:46

Indent

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3 Comments

Charles Duffy Over a year ago

echo -n is needlessly nonportable -- shells aren't required to do anything with -n other than print it as a string on stdout. Safer to use printf '%s' "$i" to print $i with no newline. See pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/echo.html, particularly the APPLICATION USAGE and RATIONALE sections.

Charles Duffy Over a year ago

That said, since you're already using printf, you could use printf ' <string>%s</string>\n' "$i". Not that that'll help with the OP's problem (caused by stray carriage returns).

Indent Over a year ago

I agree with you, I have write to fast

Cyrus · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-31 15:54:08Z

0

Check your csv file for non-printable characters: cat -A file.csv or cat -v file.csv

If you find something like ^M, then I recommend: dos2unix file.csv

answered Oct 31, 2017 at 15:54

Cyrus

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4 Comments

Johnathan Brown Johnny Over a year ago

yeah I'm getting the ^M, installing dos2unix now and will report back.

Charles Duffy Over a year ago

If you don't have dos2unix, plenty of other ways to fix this. Opening the file in vim and running :set fileformat=unix before saving it will do the trick.

Johnathan Brown Johnny Over a year ago

wow that actually fixed it for me... I never would have guessed that to be the case. Is this common?

Cyrus Over a year ago

Yes, if the file was created on a Windows system.

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