thorny script argument escaping problem

[lars at larsshack.org (Lars Kellogg-Stedman)]

> That would be nice BUT I would need to dynamically create a list of
> arguments for the system method.  If I pass in a string (a
> comma-separated list of quoted arguments), the system() method treats
> that as ONE argument.

Yes, and I am suggesting that instead of passing a string you pass it a
list.  I don't know any ruby, but in python or perl you'd do this by
appending elements to your list until you have what you want.

After spending a few minutes looking at the ruby docs, it looks like you
could:

  cmd = [ '/my/command' ]
  cmd.push('an argument with spaces')
  cmd.push('"an argument with spaces and quotation marks"')
  cmd.push('an argument with <weird shell metacharacters>')

  Kernel.system(*cmd)

-- Lars