fzf automatically adds quotes around parameter expressions

[kevincotter]

Checklist

• I have read through the manual page (man fzf)
• I have searched through the existing issues
• For bug reports, I have checked if the bug is reproducible in the latest version of fzf

Output of fzf --version

0.60.3 (0012183)

OS

• Linux
• macOS
• Windows
• Etc.

Shell

• bash
• zsh
• fish

Problem / Steps to reproduce

I'm trying to use the selected item as a parameter in an execute command but I need the parameter to be without quotes. fzf seems to be automatically adding them.

Input:
echo c:\windows| fzf --bind "enter:execute(echo ^\"cd {}^\")"

Output:
"cd "c:\windows""

Desired Output:
"cd c:\windows"

This looks similar to #2609.

Is there a way to disable the automatic conversion and just get the raw, selected text w/o quotes?

[junegunn]

We don't have that option. What happens if {} contains double-quotes and spaces? Is it okay on Windows?

[DanSM-5]

If you can call powershell, something like this could help

echo "c:\windows" | fzf --with-shell "powershell -NoLogo -NonInteractive -NoProfile -Command" --bind "enter:execute:$selected = {}; $selected = $selected.Trim(\"'\").Trim('\"'); echo \"\"\"cd $selected\""

: "cd c:\windows"

You can trim any character included single and double quotes to make sure your string is clean.

However dealing with escapes is quite tricky. Another option is call another script inside execute(script {}) and parsing it there.

Personally I find building a powershell script and calling it from cmd way easier than playing around with quote rules in cmd.

If I can suggest something to fzf, a placeholder like {r} that will just pass the text as is without any extra quote could be useful in cases like this where the quotation rules aren't simple.

[kevincotter]

What happens if {} contains double-quotes and spaces? Is it okay on Windows?

For this example, I'm using fzf to select directory/folder paths, so spaces may exist but double-quotes are invalid within a pathname on Windows.

C:\Program Files\Adobe Reader <-- Valid path with spaces.
C:\Foo\"Bar"\Baz <-- Invalid. Double quotes not allowed on Windows.

I'm attempting to use the selected pathname as part of a command I'd like the executed process to run. For example, in Neovim, you can use +<cmd> to have Neovim run commands at startup:

nvim +"cd C:\Windows" <-- Works. Double quotes needed around entire command.
nvim +"cd "C:\Windows"" <-- Fails.
nvim +"cd C:\Program Files" <-- Works even with paths with spaces.
nvim +"cd "C:\Program Files"" <-- Fails.

I can work around this by passing {} to another script/utility to strip the quotes. As mentioned by @DanSM-5, above, a raw placeholder expression like {r} might be a helpful feature in the future.

Appreciate your efforts on fzf, @junegunn.

[junegunn]

31fd207 implements r flag. It's not recommended for normal use cases as it can easily lead to broken commands.