I want to call a program with arguments built from an array in bash.
I want bash to call:
echo -arg1=simple -arg2="some spaces"
from array=(echo -arg1=simple "-arg2=\"some spaces\"") or similar (I can adjust the way the items are created).
Problem
With "${array[@]}" bash calls:
echo -arg1=simple '-arg2="some spaces"'
But I do not want the single quotes. How to build and expand the array correctly?
Example code
#!/bin/bash
set -x
array=()
array+=(echo)
array+=(-arg1=simple)
array+=("-arg2=\"some spaces\"")
"${array[@]}"
"${array[*]}"
${array[@]}
${array[*]}
Resulting calls
echo -arg1=simple '-arg2="some spaces"'
'echo -arg1=simple -arg2="some spaces"'
echo -arg1=simple '-arg2="some' 'spaces"'
echo -arg1=simple '-arg2="some' 'spaces"'