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string shell

[Shell] Run and understand: How to handle strings containing spaces

created-2025/12/13 updated-2026/03/24

Introduction

This repository runs a shell script to execute a string containing a space specified in the command.

The commands you need to install

  1. git

Quickstart

If you have already installed the above command, run the following command to download it from the repository, then change the directory and run the shell script to check its behavior.

ubuntu

git clone https://github.com/trygfmi/shell_folder-contains-space


cd shell_folder-contains-space


cat start_folder-contains-space.sh


chmod 744 start_folder-contains-space.sh


./start_folder-contains-space.sh
Output results 
ls $test
ls: cannot access 'test': No such file or directory
ls: cannot access 'folder': No such file or directory

ls ${test}
ls: cannot access 'test': No such file or directory
ls: cannot access 'folder': No such file or directory

ls "$test"
test.txt
hello shell world

macos

MacPorts

source ~/bashrc_folder/macports_alias


git clone https://github.com/trygfmi/shell_folder-contains-space


cd shell_folder-contains-space


cat start_folder-contains-space.sh


chmod 744 start_folder-contains-space.sh


./start_folder-contains-space.sh
Output results 
ls $test
ls: folder: No such file or directory
ls: test: No such file or directory

ls ${test}
ls: folder: No such file or directory
ls: test: No such file or directory

ls "$test"
test.txt
hello shell world

windows

WSL2

git clone https://github.com/trygfmi/shell_folder-contains-space


cd shell_folder-contains-space


cat start_folder-contains-space.sh


chmod 744 start_folder-contains-space.sh


./start_folder-contains-space.sh
Output results 
ls $test
ls: cannot access 'test': No such file or directory
ls: cannot access 'folder': No such file or directory

ls ${test}
ls: cannot access 'test': No such file or directory
ls: cannot access 'folder': No such file or directory

ls "$test"
test.txt
hello shell world

MSYS2 MINGW64

git clone https://github.com/trygfmi/shell_folder-contains-space


cd shell_folder-contains-space


cat start_folder-contains-space.sh


chmod 744 start_folder-contains-space.sh


./start_folder-contains-space.sh
Output results 
ls $test
ls: cannot access 'test': No such file or directory
ls: cannot access 'folder': No such file or directory

ls ${test}
ls: cannot access 'test': No such file or directory
ls: cannot access 'folder': No such file or directory

ls "$test"
test.txt
hello shell world

Procedure

ubuntu

Click to open details

Advance confirmation

Enter the following command into the terminal and if command not found does not appear, it’s OK.

git --version

preinstall

Please install the command that shows “command not found” in the terminal using the following command.

sudo apt install git

command

Executing the following command in the terminal should output a string similar to the following:

git clone https://github.com/trygfmi/shell_folder-contains-space


cd shell_folder-contains-space


cat start_folder-contains-space.sh


chmod 744 start_folder-contains-space.sh


./start_folder-contains-space.sh
Detail 
ls $test
ls: cannot access 'test': No such file or directory
ls: cannot access 'folder': No such file or directory

ls ${test}
ls: cannot access 'test': No such file or directory
ls: cannot access 'folder': No such file or directory

ls "$test"
test.txt
hello shell world

macos

Click to open details

Advance confirmation

Enter the following command into the terminal and if command not found does not appear, it is OK.

source ~/bashrc_folder/macports_alias


git --version

*MacOS uses the MacPorts package manager to manage commands. If you haven’t installed it yet, please refer to the MacPorts installation instructions at the link below. Also, set an alias for the command so that you can call the command without conflicting with the existing environment. If you are using this blog for the first time, please refer to the following two articles to set up your environment.

[macos] Steps to install MacPorts
[macos] Setting aliases for commands installed with MacPorts

preinstall

If the command not found appears in the terminal, install it using the following command and set an alias.

sudo port install git


echo 'alias git="/opt/local/bin/git"' >> ~/bashrc_folder/macports_alias

command

Executing the following command in the terminal should output a string similar to the following:

source ~/bashrc_folder/macports_alias


git clone https://github.com/trygfmi/shell_folder-contains-space


cd shell_folder-contains-space


cat start_folder-contains-space.sh


chmod 744 start_folder-contains-space.sh


./start_folder-contains-space.sh
Detail 
ls $test
ls: folder: No such file or directory
ls: test: No such file or directory

ls ${test}
ls: folder: No such file or directory
ls: test: No such file or directory

ls "$test"
test.txt
hello shell world

windows

Click to open details

Advance confirmation

Enter the following command into the prompt and if command not found does not appear, it’s OK.

WSL2
git --version
MSYS2 MINGW64
git --version

*Windows has been confirmed to work with WSL2 and MSYS2 MINGW64. Please install WSL2 if possible, and if you are unable to set it up, you can run it by installing MSYS2, but there may be some commands that can only be run in WSL2. Please refer to the following article for instructions on how to install WSL2 and MSYS2.

[windows] Steps to install WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux)
[Windows] Steps to install msys2

preinstall

If the command not found appears in the prompt, please install it using the following command.

WSL2
sudo apt install git
MSYS2 MINGW64
pacman --sync git

command

By executing the following command at the prompt, you should get the following output:

WSL2
git clone https://github.com/trygfmi/shell_folder-contains-space


cd shell_folder-contains-space


cat start_folder-contains-space.sh


chmod 744 start_folder-contains-space.sh


./start_folder-contains-space.sh
Detail 
ls $test
ls: folder: No such file or directory
ls: test: No such file or directory

ls ${test}
ls: folder: No such file or directory
ls: test: No such file or directory

ls "$test"
test.txt
hello shell world
MSYS2 MINGW64
git clone https://github.com/trygfmi/shell_folder-contains-space


cd shell_folder-contains-space


cat start_folder-contains-space.sh


chmod 744 start_folder-contains-space.sh


./start_folder-contains-space.sh
Detail 
ls $test
ls: folder: No such file or directory
ls: test: No such file or directory

ls ${test}
ls: folder: No such file or directory
ls: test: No such file or directory

ls "$test"
test.txt
hello shell world

Afterword

Only ls “$test” works as expected. Other commands, such as ls test folder, are interpreted as having multiple arguments. You can also use single quotes (‘) like ls ‘$test’, but the variable expansion is not performed and the command is executed with ls $test.

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