Escaping double quotes in expect script

Question

``` #!/usr/bin/perl $command = "SetBaseStationParam(\"PDP_ACTIVATION_REJECT\",0);" system (boa.exp $command); ``` boa.exp script will take this command login to a linux machine and executes the script. ``` # /Usr/bin/expect set timeout 5 set arg1 [lindex 0] spawn ssh root@10.xx.xx.xx expect "password:" send "pass" expect "$" send "$arg1" expect "$" ``` But this script is removing the first double quotes in the command and printing it as output is ``` SetBaseStationParam(\PDP_ACTIVATION_REJECT",0); ``` Expected output is ``` SetBaseStationParam("PDP_ACTIVATION_REJECT",0); ``` Please let me know if there is any solution for this

Accepted Answer

When you use double backslashes it escapes the backslash, so the proper way to escape a quote is `\"`.

However, a better solution is to use `qq()`. It can be used with a great variety of characters as delimiter, such as `|` for example:

```
$command = qq|SetBaseStationParam("PDP_ACTIVATION_REJECT",0)|;
```

Or in your case, even use single quotes

```
$command = 'SetBaseStationParam("PDP_ACTIVATION_REJECT",0)';
```

You should be aware that not using

```
use strict;
use warnings;
```

Is a very bad idea indeed.

Escaping double quotes in expect script

Solution

Problem