executing bash commands with wildcards *

[bask185]

I am trying to let my Qt app execute certain bash commands, which works just not with wildcards.

I need to import and export files from a usb stick to a directory in the home folder.

The files all have similar names like W1.csv. To get them all I usually do W*.csv. For this I could work around it with the entryList() and a for-loop so this part is solve-able

The second problem I'm having, is that I can't work around the different usb stick names. I can use the QDir functions and get the name of the usb stick, but the name contains spaces and that is a huge payne. For instance if I do

cd /media/user/ /media/user/Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS amd64
// it won't work because I need to type 
cd /media/user/Ubuntu\ 16.04.2\ LTS\ amd64/
//this works but I can also do
cd /media/user/"Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS amd64"

The problem with the quotes is that I cannot simply add them to the name because of weird things are happening to the string when I try.

// This:
if(usb->exists() == true) {
       QString tmp = usb->path();
       qDebug() << tmp;

//returns
/media/user/Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS amd64 // no quotes
            ^                      ^

I tried:

QString tmp = "/media/user/";
 tmp += "\""; // '"', 34, '/"'
 tmp += "name with spaces";
 tmp += "\"";

 qDebug() << tmp; */  result /media/user/\"name with spaces\"  /*

To execute the commands I used both system() and Qprocess but as long as I cannot feed these function a proper string......

So I would like to know how I can use wild carts and/or how I can remove those pesky \ slashes in front of the "

[bask185]

@jsulm I don't need the entire path, only the part: "name with spaces". This is important because the bash cannot work with the spaces otherwise. An example of a terminal command would be:

cp /media/user/"usb with a name"/text.txt /home/user/folder

So in combination with process.start it has to be precisely:

process.start("cp /media/user/"usb with a name"/text.txt /home/user/folder");

But as we both know this does not compile. I also learned that the entire path can be encapsulated in quotes, that also works in the CLI. But I still have the problem that Qt adds the slashes. These slashes prevent me from running the command.

However a solution just popped up. The lightbulb above my head shined so bright you might have noticed it :P
Instead of launching the application directly I will launch it via a shellscript. And prior to launching the appliation the script will manually unmount the USB stick and then mount it again but with my own space-less name.

I did this before with my raspberry system it had as purpose to apply updates. But with a little work I can repurpose that shellscript.

[jsulm]

@bask185 Those are not wildcards.
You should put the whole path into "":

"\"/media/user/name with spaces\""

[bask185]

@jsulm I don't need the entire path, only the part: "name with spaces". This is important because the bash cannot work with the spaces otherwise. An example of a terminal command would be:

cp /media/user/"usb with a name"/text.txt /home/user/folder

So in combination with process.start it has to be precisely:

process.start("cp /media/user/"usb with a name"/text.txt /home/user/folder");

But as we both know this does not compile. I also learned that the entire path can be encapsulated in quotes, that also works in the CLI. But I still have the problem that Qt adds the slashes. These slashes prevent me from running the command.

However a solution just popped up. The lightbulb above my head shined so bright you might have noticed it :P
Instead of launching the application directly I will launch it via a shellscript. And prior to launching the appliation the script will manually unmount the USB stick and then mount it again but with my own space-less name.

I did this before with my raspberry system it had as purpose to apply updates. But with a little work I can repurpose that shellscript.