bash quicksand 2: Quotes needed in string tests

This is part 2 of the bash quicksand series. Part 1 is about whitespaces
in variable assignment. When you write bash shell scripts, you want to avoid these innocent-looking mistakes. We all fall into these traps at some point, especially when we first write bash scripts.

You define a bash variable, say $somevar. Later, you need to test if it is equal to some string, say "linux".

1  #!/bin/bash
   ...
5  if [ $somevar == "linux"]
6  then ...
9  fi
   ...
25 exit 0

Depending on the value of $somevar at the time of the test, you can see some puzzling errors:

• If $somevar is null (""), then you will see this error:
  

  ./myscript.sh: line 5: [: =: unary operator expected

  
  
• If $somevar has embedded spaces, e.g., "tux is great", you will see this error:
  

  ./myscript.sh: line 5: [: too many arguments

  
  

Now, you know this trap, don't fall into it.

A good defence is to always enclose the bash variable in quotes:

if [ "$somevar" == "linux"]
then ...
fi