src/library/base/man/shQuote.Rd

% File src/library/base/man/shQuote.Rd
% Part of the R package, https://www.R-project.org
% Copyright 1995-2021 R Core Team
% Distributed under GPL 2 or later

\name{shQuote}
\alias{shQuote}
\title{Quote Strings for Use in OS Shells}
\description{
  Quote a string to be passed to an operating system shell.
}
\usage{
shQuote(string, type = c("sh", "csh", "cmd", "cmd2"))
}
\arguments{
  \item{string}{a character vector, usually of length one.}
  \item{type}{character: the type of shell quoting.  Partial matching is
    supported.  \code{"cmd"} and \code{"cmd2"} refer to the Windows shell.
    \code{"cmd"} is the default under Windows.} 
}
\details{
  The default type of quoting supported under Unix-alikes is that for
  the Bourne shell \code{sh}.  If the string does not contain single
  quotes, we can just surround it with single quotes.  Otherwise, the
  string is surrounded in double quotes, which suppresses all special
  meanings of metacharacters except dollar, backquote and backslash, so
  these (and of course double quote) are preceded by backslash.  This
  type of quoting is also appropriate for \code{bash}, \code{ksh} and
  \code{zsh}.

  The other type of quoting is for the C-shell (\code{csh} and
  \code{tcsh}).  Once again, if the string does not contain single
  quotes, we can just surround it with single quotes.  If it does
  contain single quotes, we can use double quotes provided it does not
  contain dollar or backquote (and we need to escape backslash,
  exclamation mark and double quote).  As a last resort, we need to
  split the string into pieces not containing single quotes (some may be
  empty) and surround each with single quotes, and the single quotes
  with double quotes.
  
  In Windows, command line interpretation is done by the application as well
  as the shell.  It may depend on the compiler used: Microsoft's rules for
  the C run-time are given at
  \url{https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/c-language/parsing-c-command-line-arguments?view=msvc-160}. 
  It may depend on the whim of the programmer of the application: check its
  documentation.  The \code{type = "cmd"} prepares the string for parsing as
  an argument by the Microsoft's rules and makes \code{shQuote} safe for use
  with many applications when used with \code{\link{system}} or
  \code{\link{system2}}.  It surrounds the string by double quotes and
  escapes internal double quotes by a backslash.  Any trailing backslashes
  and backslashes that were originally before double quotes are doubled.

  The Windows
  \command{cmd.exe} shell (used by default with \code{\link{shell}})
  uses \code{type = "cmd2"} quoting:  special characters are prefixed
  with \code{"^"}.  In some cases, two types of quoting should be
  used:  first for the application, and then \code{type = "cmd2"} 
  for \command{cmd.exe}.  See the examples below.  
}
\value{
  A character vector of the same length as \code{string}.
}
\references{ Loukides, M. \emph{et al} (2002) \emph{Unix Power Tools}
  Third Edition. O'Reilly.  Section 27.12.
  
  Discussion in \PR{16636}.

% gone in Jan 2015  
% \url{http://www.mhuffman.com/Notes/dos/bash_cmd.htm}
}
\seealso{
  \link{Quotes} for quoting \R code.

  \code{\link{sQuote}} for quoting English text.
}
\examples{
test <- "abc$def`gh`i\\\\j"
cat(shQuote(test), "\n")
\dontrun{system(paste("echo", shQuote(test)))}
test <- "don't do it!"
cat(shQuote(test), "\n")

tryit <- paste("use the", sQuote("-c"), "switch\nlike this")
cat(shQuote(tryit), "\n")
\dontrun{system(paste("echo", shQuote(tryit)))}
cat(shQuote(tryit, type = "csh"), "\n")

## Windows-only example, assuming cmd.exe:
perlcmd <- 'print "Hello World\\\\n";'
\dontrun{
shell(shQuote(paste("perl -e", 
                    shQuote(perlcmd, type = "cmd")),
              type = "cmd2"))
}
}
\keyword{utilities}