How to execute a bash command stored as a string with quotes and asterisk [duplicate]

Solution 1:

Have you tried:

eval $cmd

For the follow-on question of how to escape * since it has special meaning when it's naked or in double quoted strings: use single quotes.

MYSQL='mysql AMORE -u username -ppassword -h localhost -e'
QUERY="SELECT "'*'" FROM amoreconfig" ;# <-- "double"'single'"double"
eval $MYSQL "'$QUERY'"

Bonus: It also reads nice: eval mysql query ;-)

Solution 2:

Use an array, not a string, as given as guidance in BashFAQ #50.

Using a string is extremely bad security practice: Consider the case where password (or a where clause in the query, or any other component) is user-provided; you don't want to eval a password containing $(rm -rf .)!

Just Running A Local Command

cmd=( mysql AMORE -u username -ppassword -h localhost -e "SELECT  host  FROM amoreconfig" )
"${cmd[@]}"

Printing Your Command Unambiguously

cmd=( mysql AMORE -u username -ppassword -h localhost -e "SELECT  host  FROM amoreconfig" )
printf 'Proposing to run: '
printf '%q ' "${cmd[@]}"
printf '\n'

Running Your Command Over SSH (Method 1: Using Stdin)

cmd=( mysql AMORE -u username -ppassword -h localhost -e "SELECT  host  FROM amoreconfig" )
printf -v cmd_str '%q ' "${cmd[@]}"
ssh other_host 'bash -s' <<<"$cmd_str"

Running Your Command Over SSH (Method 2: Command Line)

cmd=( mysql AMORE -u username -ppassword -h localhost -e "SELECT  host  FROM amoreconfig" )
printf -v cmd_str '%q ' "${cmd[@]}"
ssh other_host "bash -c $cmd_str"

Solution 3:

try this

$ cmd='mysql AMORE -u root --password="password" -h localhost -e "select host from amoreconfig"'
$ eval $cmd

Solution 4:

You don't need the "eval" even. Just put a dollar sign in front of the string:

cmd="ls"
$cmd