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macosshellswiftnstask

osx swift pass path with space as argument to shell script called by NSTask

This is the code I can't get to work. If I remove the directory part with the space my shell script runs fine.

shell script simplified is : /usr/bin/find $1 -name *.txt

error with the space is binary operator expected

let bundle = NSBundle.mainBundle()
let path = bundle.pathForResource("doSimpleFind", ofType: "sh")

 let findTask = NSTask()
 let pipe = NSPipe()
 findTask.standardOutput = pipe

 // directory where to search from the script. testing the space in the name
 let constArgsString:String = "/Users/aUser/Library/Application\\ Support"
 //let constArgsString:String = "/Users/aUser/Library/"
 findTask.launchPath = path!
 findTask.arguments = [constArgsString]
 findTask.launch()
 findTask.waitUntilExit()
 let data = pipe.fileHandleForReading.readDataToEndOfFile()
 let outputText:String = NSString(data: data, encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding)!
 cmdTextResult.textStorage?.mutableString.setString(outputText)
Solution

  • NSTask() launches the process "directly" with the given arguments, without using a shell. Therefore it is not necessary to escape any space or other characters in the launch arguments:

    let constArgsString = "/Users/aUser/Library/Application Support"

    But you have to handle arguments with spaces in your shell script correctly. In your example, $1 needs to be enclosed in double quotes, otherwise it might be passed as multiple arguments to the find command:

    /usr/bin/find "$1" -name "*.txt"