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bashmultiline

Bash: split long string argument to multiple lines?

Given a command that takes a single long string argument like:

mycommand -arg1 "very long string which does not fit on the screen"

is it possible to somehow split it in a way similar to how separate arguments can be split with \.

I tried:

mycommand -arg1 "very \
long \
string \
which ..."

but this doesn't work.

mycommand is an external command so cannot be modified to take single arguments.

Solution

  • You can assign your string to a variable like this:

    long_arg="my very long string\
 which does not fit\
 on the screen"

    Then just use the variable:

    mycommand "$long_arg"

    Within double quotes, a newline preceded by a backslash is removed. Note that all the other white space in the string is significant, i.e. it will be present in the variable.