From: Schneider <dudektria@...>
Date: 2010-04-10T01:55:08+09:00
Subject: Re: How to capture output of linux command

On Apr 9, 8:46 am, Albert Schlef <albertsch...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Damjan Rems wrote:
>
> > You can run linux command:
>
> > a = `ls /home`
>
> > and receive output in variable a.
>
> > But I would like /home to be variable. So I would invoke command like
> > this:
>
> > a = `"ls #{dir}"`
>
> As Ryan said, you need to remove the double quotes. You're asking the
> shell to execute the "ls whatever" command. There's no such command.
>
> BTW, you actually want double quotes there, but put them around the
> parameter:
>
>   a = `ls "#{dir}"`
>
> The purpose of the double quotes here is to protect against the case
> where the 'dir' variable contain spaces (which are meaningful to the
> shell --they separate tokens).
> --
> Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Keep in mind that `ls #{dir}` (without the quotes) is also DANGEROUS.
What if you (or someone) set dir = "~; rm -rf ~"? BAD.

So, using quotes is also safer.