# Run Command without Single Quote

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-command-without-single-quote/23068>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Created:** [April 12, 2019, 9:10am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-command-without-single-quote/23068 "2019-04-12T09:10:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 15\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Eric\_Chen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/eric_chen/32/5992_2.png) [@Eric\_Chen](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Eric_Chen)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 9:10am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-command-without-single-quote/23068/1 "2019-04-12T09:10:04Z")

</div>

**Windows:**  
I want Julia to run a command to 7-zip a file, i.e. following works in my terminal:

7z a c:\test\f1.zip c:\test\f1.txt

I have to use Double Quote or No Quote for the file name, otherwise, If I use Single Quote, 7 zip Output an Error

However, when I do this in Julia,

```julia
cc = `7z a c:\\test\\f1.zip c:\\test\\f1.txt`

run(cc)

```

This failed, because when I do  
`println(cc)`

It generate this output:

`7z a 'c:\test\f1.zip' 'c:\test\f1.txt'`

How come Julia added single quote around file name? I dont like it because it will break my 7-zip command. 7z only accept double quote or No quote.

Thank you

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cormullion](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/cormullion/32/49131_2.png) [@cormullion](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/cormullion)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 9:14am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-command-without-single-quote/23068/2 "2019-04-12T09:14:06Z")

</div>

Have you tried it without the double quotes and using backslashes to escape the spaces?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Eric\_Chen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/eric_chen/32/5992_2.png) [@Eric\_Chen](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Eric_Chen)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 9:32am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-command-without-single-quote/23068/3 "2019-04-12T09:32:19Z")

</div>

I changed my example, it still does not work…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pfitzseb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/pfitzseb/32/45566_2.png) [@pfitzseb](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/pfitzseb)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 10:06am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-command-without-single-quote/23068/4 "2019-04-12T10:06:14Z")

</div>

I’m pretty sure that’s just a printing thing (the single quotes). That command works fine for me:

```julia
julia> cmd = `7z a E:\\Downloads\\foo.zip E:\\Downloads\\foo`
`7z a 'E:\Downloads\foo.zip' 'E:\Downloads\foo'`

julia> run(cmd)

7-Zip [64] 16.04 : Copyright (c) 1999-2016 Igor Pavlov : 2016-10-04

Open archive: E:\Downloads\foo.zip
--
Path = E:\Downloads\foo.zip
Type = zip
Physical Size = 2412099
Comment = e16eaa0b8d8ccf3f432c9ef46cbbc6453789fce7

Scanning the drive:
1 folder, 0 files, 0 bytes

Updating archive: E:\Downloads\foo.zip

Items to compress: 1

Files read from disk: 0
Archive size: 2412099 bytes (2356 KiB)
Everything is Ok
Process(`7z a 'E:\Downloads\foo.zip' 'E:\Downloads\foo'`, ProcessExited(0))

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Eric\_Chen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/eric_chen/32/5992_2.png) [@Eric\_Chen](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Eric_Chen)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 10:38am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-command-without-single-quote/23068/5 "2019-04-12T10:38:29Z")

</div>

I am using Windows 10 Enterprise + Julia 1.1 + 7-zip (2019-02-21) 64 bits

```julia
cc = `7z a c:\\temp\\f1.zip c:\\temp\\f1.txt`
run(cc)

```

IOError: could not spawn `7z a 'c:\temp\f1.zip' 'c:\temp\f1.txt'`: no such file or directory (ENOENT)  
\_spawn\_primitive(::String, ::Cmd, ::Array{Any,1}) at process.jl:400  
setup\_stdios(::getfield(Base, Symbol(“##505#506”)){Cmd}, ::Array{Any,1}) at process.jl:413  
\_spawn at process.jl:412 [inlined]  
#run#515(::Bool, ::Function, ::Cmd) at process.jl:725  
run(::Cmd) at process.jl:724  
top-level scope at none:0

Then I open a windows terminal  
Without Single Quote, it works:  
 ![7z_1](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/9/1/91d2d4fac5b2a09268f018fadae90ef3e1bb5583.png)

Adding Single Quote, it failed, exactly the same as Julia 's case

 ![7z_fail](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/9/8/9837f8f2e0440cad5042a98a67766c0f970d3568.png)

@pfitzseb Could you try this:

1. In a windows command line, you try to add Single Quote to your file name, does it still work?  
i.e. you will run this in windows command line, not Julia REPL:

`7z a 'E:\\Downloads\\foo.zip' 'E:\\Downloads\\foo'`

1. If you upgrade you 7 zip to v19 or latest 2019-02 version, with 64-bit, does it still work?

Thank you

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pfitzseb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/pfitzseb/32/45566_2.png) [@pfitzseb](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/pfitzseb)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 10:47am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-command-without-single-quote/23068/6 "2019-04-12T10:47:59Z")

</div>

Those are different errors. I’m pretty sure Julia can’t find `7z` for some reason, so try specifying the complete path (e.g. as `joinpath(Sys.BINDIR, "7z")` if you want to use the 7zip shipped with Julia).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fredrikekre](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/fredrikekre/32/1688_2.png) [@fredrikekre](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/fredrikekre)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 10:57am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-command-without-single-quote/23068/7 "2019-04-12T10:57:45Z")

</div>

Isn’t the latest problem that you have `c:` instead of `C:`?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bernhard](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/bernhard/32/2619_2.png) [@bernhard](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/bernhard)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 11:24am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-command-without-single-quote/23068/8 "2020-10-06T11:24:35Z")

</div>

I am also running into this issue

In the simple example below, the command fails.

If I past the command string (line 2 of the code snippet) - without the backticks and WITHOUT the single apostrophes of the first argument - into a cmd.exe window; things work perfectly

```julia
julia> cmd = Cmd(`rename $(fi) $(fnonlyNew)`,windows_verbatim=true)
`rename 'C:\temp\abc.jpg' 2020-10-06T132158_abc.jpg`

julia> run(cmd)
ERROR: IOError: could not spawn `rename 'C:\temp\abc.jpg' 2020-10-06T132158_abc.jpg`: no such file or directory (ENOENT)
Stacktrace:
 [1] _spawn_primitive(::String, ::Cmd, ::Array{Any,1}) at .\process.jl:99
 [2] #585 at .\process.jl:112 [inlined]
 [3] setup_stdios(::Base.var"#585#586"{Cmd}, ::Array{Any,1}) at .\process.jl:196
 [4] _spawn at .\process.jl:111 [inlined]
 [5] run(::Cmd; wait::Bool) at .\process.jl:439
 [6] run(::Cmd) at .\process.jl:438
 [7] top-level scope at REPL[113]:1
 [8] include_string(::Function, ::Module, ::String, ::String) at .\loading.jl:1088

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bernhard](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/bernhard/32/2619_2.png) [@bernhard](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/bernhard)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 11:27am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-command-without-single-quote/23068/9 "2020-10-06T11:27:33Z")

</div>

for what it’s worth. For my use case, powershell does the trick. This works:

```julia
cmd = `powershell.exe Rename-Item -Path $(fi) -NewName $(fnonlyNew)`
run(cmd)

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pfitzseb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/pfitzseb/32/45566_2.png) [@pfitzseb](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/pfitzseb)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 11:49am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-command-without-single-quote/23068/10 "2020-10-06T11:49:34Z")

</div>

`rename` isn’t a program on Windows, it’s a `cmd` built-in afaict. Consequently, you need to run `cmd` it inside of `cmd`:

```julia
julia> run(Cmd(`cmd /c rename $("test.jl") $("test2.jl")`, windows_verbatim=true))
Process(`cmd /c rename test.jl test2.jl`, ProcessExited(0))

```

The `windows_verbatim` stuff is unnecessary as well:

```julia
julia> run(`cmd /c rename $("test.jl") $("test2.jl")`)
Process(`cmd /c rename test.jl test2.jl`, ProcessExited(0))

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mancolric](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mancolric/32/21799_2.png) [@mancolric](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mancolric)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 3:35pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-command-without-single-quote/23068/11 "2022-06-13T15:35:12Z")

</div>

I am facing this problem as well. I want to run

```julia
polyquad find -s tri -q 2 -n 1 -p -V > output.txt

```

This works fine in the terminal. However, if I try to do it via

```julia
run(`polyquad find -s tri -q 2 -n 1 -p -V > output.txt`)

```

then I get the error

```julia
special characters "#{}()[]<>|&*?~;" must be quoted in commands

```

If I try

```julia
run(`polyquad find -s tri -q 2 -n 1 -p -V '>' output.txt`)

```

then the program `polyquad` does not like the quotes.

Is there any way to execute an instruction in Julia exactly as it is written, without any quotes?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pfitzseb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/pfitzseb/32/45566_2.png) [@pfitzseb](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/pfitzseb)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 3:40pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-command-without-single-quote/23068/12 "2022-06-13T15:40:49Z")

</div>

Julia isn’t running a shell, so things like `>` won’t work out of the box. You can either use `pipeline` to redirect stdout/in/err or just run your whole command in a shell with e.g.

```julia
run(`/bin/bash -e 'polyquad find -s tri -q 2 -n 1 -p -V > output.txt'`)

```

or something like that.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mancolric](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mancolric/32/21799_2.png) [@mancolric](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mancolric)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 4:17pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-command-without-single-quote/23068/14 "2022-06-13T16:17:55Z")

</div>

Thanks @pfitzseb. If `output.txt` is not the name of the file, but it is stored in a string `OutputFile`, how can I proceed? Because

```julia
run(`/bin/bash -e 'polyquad find -s tri -q 2 -n 1 -p -V > $(OutputFile)'`)

```

is interpreted as the command

```julia
polyquad find -s tri -q 2 -n 1 -p -V > $(OutputFile)

```

and does not work.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ffevotte](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ffevotte/32/6587_2.png) [@ffevotte](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ffevotte)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-command-without-single-quote/23068/15 "2022-06-13T19:53:33Z")

</div>

As noted by @pfitzseb above, `pipeline` should work here:

```julia
output_file = "output.txt"
run(pipeline(`polyquad find -s tri -q 2 -n 1 -p -V`, output_file))

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mancolric](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mancolric/32/21799_2.png) [@mancolric](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mancolric)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 11:58am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-command-without-single-quote/23068/16 "2022-06-14T11:58:45Z")

</div>

Yes, it works. Thank you 🙂