Ubuntu – How to pass filenames with spaces as arguments

bashcommand linepython

I have a Python script which accepts string arguments.

$ python script.py "one image.jpg" "another image.jpg"

This works as expected.

Python argparse: ["one image.jpg", "another image.jpg"]

If I need to pass filenames I would do,

$ python script.py $(ls "/some/dir/*.jpg")

Python argparse: ["one", "image.jpg", "another", "image.jpg"]

If use the -Q of ls command, I can wrap results between double quotes. However, quotes stay escaped in Python script, ie.

$ python script.py $(ls -Q "/some/dir/*.jpg")

Python argparse: ['"one image.jpg"', '"another image.jpg"']

How should I expand ls filenames into proper strings to use as arguments? (as in my very first example)

Best Answer

Don't parse ls. Just use:

python script.py /path/to/*.jpg

This performs shell globbing which replaces /path/to/*.jpg by the proper list.

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No, you can't pass arguments to an alias. But you can define a function:

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(you can put it all in one line if you wish, just mind the semicolon at the end of the command)

This will work as intended and is the recommended idiom that should replace aliases for all but trivial purposes.

But maybe what you really need is a Makefile?

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When you write $*, you've lost: this erases the distinction between spaces in an argument and spaces to separate arguments. Use "$@" instead, which expands to one word per argument.

function cd {
  builtin cd "$@" && ls
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