scp remote file to local machine

Question

as a part of script I'm trying to copy a file from remote site. But got an error. To me that sounds bit strange as everything sounds ok:

#aaa="/path/to/some file with spaces(and brackets).txt"
....
#scp user@example.com:"$aaa" /test/
bash: -c: line 0: syntax error near unexpected token `('
bash: -c: line 0: `scp -f /path/to/some file with spaces.txt'

upd: problem with brackets...

Put a `set -x` in your script before the problem so the exact command be executed is printed out on the screen? — Zoredache, May 15 '15 at 18:29
it doesn't really matters, at the moment i'm trying to debug that just from command line, and if you will just type in bash lines starting with "#" you will get the same error — swap, May 15 '15 at 18:35
You need to have the brackets escaped or quoted too, as bash wants to take action on them — Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen, May 15 '15 at 18:55
`aaa="'/path/to/some file with spaces(and brackets).txt'"` should escape it twice, once in single quotes, once in double quotes. — Christopher, May 15 '15 at 19:11

krisFR · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-15T19:05:00.607

4

You need to escape each spaces and brackets :

#!/bin/bash

aaa='/path/to/some\ file\ with\ spaces\(and brackets\).txt'
scp user@example.com:"$aaa" /test/

By the way, a more friendly alternative would be to enclose $aaa with single quotes in addition to double quotes :

#!/bin/bash

aaa='/path/to/some file with spaces(and brackets).txt'
scp user@example.com:"'$aaa'" /test/

edited May 15 '15 at 19:05

answered May 15 '15 at 18:55

krisFR

12,830
3
31
40

echo $aaa |sed -r "s/$/\\\(/g"|sed -r "s/$/\\\)/g"|sed -r "s/ /\\\ /g" – swap May 15 '15 at 19:06
@swap What do you mean with this `sed` command ? – krisFR May 15 '15 at 19:47

Ryan Boyle · Answer 2 · 2015-05-15T18:55:11.200

1

Below worked for me. I think you just need to escape the spaces, brackets or anything else and you should be good.

#!/bin/bash

aaa="/tmp/untitled\ text\ 2.txt"

scp -r user@example.com:"$aaa" .

edited May 15 '15 at 18:55

answered May 15 '15 at 18:40

Ryan Boyle

106
6

1

in that case you will copy local file to remote server – swap May 15 '15 at 18:42
Yes, that is the reverse from question ! – krisFR May 15 '15 at 18:44
Updated answer above to get remote file. – Ryan Boyle May 15 '15 at 18:46

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:14

I created a file on my remote host with the literal name `"/tmp/some file with spaces(and brackets).txt~.

If you double+single quote the name like so I was able to transfer it. Inspired by this question.

/tmp$ scp remotehost:"'/tmp/some file with spaces(and brackets).txt'" .
some file with spaces(and brackets).txt          100%    0     0.0KB/s   00:00

With a variable

/tmp$ aaa="/tmp/some file with spaces(and brackets).txt"
/tmp$ scp puppet:"'$aaa'" .
some file with spaces(and brackets).txt               100%    0     0.0KB/s   00:00

scp remote file to local machine

3 Answers3