using find in Bash Script and checking if file is present

Question

 var= "$(find . -name 'gen*.bt2')" 


 if [ "$var" == "" ]
    then
         echo bad
    else
         echo great  
 fi

I get errors

./script.sh: line 4: ./gen.4.bt2 ./gen.rev.1.bt2 ./gen.rev.2.bt2 ./gen.1.bt2 ./gen.3.bt2 ./gen.2.bt2: No such file or directory great

However, when I run the same code in terminal, files are listed perfectly, without any error.

Can someone correct me, where am I going wrong?

I need to check, if certain files are present or not, if present then proceed.

jordanm · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-10 05:03:05Z

up vote 2 down vote accepted

The problem is the space in your assignment. The shell is whitespace-sensitive. Your command is the equivalent of:

var="" "./gen.4.bt2 ./gen.rev.1.bt2 ./gen.rev.2.bt2 ./gen.1.bt2 ./gen.3.bt2 ./gen.2.bt2" # output of find

You need to remove the space:

var="$(find . -name 'gen*.bt2')"

answered Oct 10 '13 at 4:32

jordanm
12.3k12034

@ jordanm so silly of me. Bash is real bad when it comes to SPACES. Thanks much!! – Death Metal Oct 10 '13 at 4:46

1 Answer