Escape a mm/dd/YY backup date in a file name












5















I have been trying to:



cp file.csv file.$(date +%D).csv


But it fails because the filenames is: file.03/27/19.csv with the slash of separate directories.



And I have been trying again to:



cp file.csv file.$(printf "%q" $(date +%D)).csv


But it still fails.






shell filenames date escape-characters slash







share|improve this question

























  • You can not set a filename with slash characters: stackoverflow.com/questions/9847288/…

    – tres.14159
    16 hours ago











  • the problem is your use of the date format using the / character. You said it yourself, the shell is seeing them as directory markers. Try one of the many other options available from date. You might be able to get the / escaped so the filename uses the character code (like putting a space in a filename), but that is often problematic.

    – 0xSheepdog
    16 hours ago


















5















I have been trying to:



cp file.csv file.$(date +%D).csv


But it fails because the filenames is: file.03/27/19.csv with the slash of separate directories.



And I have been trying again to:



cp file.csv file.$(printf "%q" $(date +%D)).csv


But it still fails.






shell filenames date escape-characters slash







share|improve this question

























  • You can not set a filename with slash characters: stackoverflow.com/questions/9847288/…

    – tres.14159
    16 hours ago











  • the problem is your use of the date format using the / character. You said it yourself, the shell is seeing them as directory markers. Try one of the many other options available from date. You might be able to get the / escaped so the filename uses the character code (like putting a space in a filename), but that is often problematic.

    – 0xSheepdog
    16 hours ago
















5












5








5








I have been trying to:



cp file.csv file.$(date +%D).csv


But it fails because the filenames is: file.03/27/19.csv with the slash of separate directories.



And I have been trying again to:



cp file.csv file.$(printf "%q" $(date +%D)).csv


But it still fails.






shell filenames date escape-characters slash







share|improve this question
















I have been trying to:



cp file.csv file.$(date +%D).csv


But it fails because the filenames is: file.03/27/19.csv with the slash of separate directories.



And I have been trying again to:



cp file.csv file.$(printf "%q" $(date +%D)).csv


But it still fails.






shell filenames date escape-characters slash




shell filenames date escape-characters slash






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 20 mins ago









Stéphane Chazelas

312k57589946




312k57589946










asked 16 hours ago









tres.14159tres.14159

3814




3814













  • You can not set a filename with slash characters: stackoverflow.com/questions/9847288/…

    – tres.14159
    16 hours ago











  • the problem is your use of the date format using the / character. You said it yourself, the shell is seeing them as directory markers. Try one of the many other options available from date. You might be able to get the / escaped so the filename uses the character code (like putting a space in a filename), but that is often problematic.

    – 0xSheepdog
    16 hours ago





















  • You can not set a filename with slash characters: stackoverflow.com/questions/9847288/…

    – tres.14159
    16 hours ago











  • the problem is your use of the date format using the / character. You said it yourself, the shell is seeing them as directory markers. Try one of the many other options available from date. You might be able to get the / escaped so the filename uses the character code (like putting a space in a filename), but that is often problematic.

    – 0xSheepdog
    16 hours ago



















You can not set a filename with slash characters: stackoverflow.com/questions/9847288/…

– tres.14159
16 hours ago





You can not set a filename with slash characters: stackoverflow.com/questions/9847288/…

– tres.14159
16 hours ago













the problem is your use of the date format using the / character. You said it yourself, the shell is seeing them as directory markers. Try one of the many other options available from date. You might be able to get the / escaped so the filename uses the character code (like putting a space in a filename), but that is often problematic.

– 0xSheepdog
16 hours ago







the problem is your use of the date format using the / character. You said it yourself, the shell is seeing them as directory markers. Try one of the many other options available from date. You might be able to get the / escaped so the filename uses the character code (like putting a space in a filename), but that is often problematic.

– 0xSheepdog
16 hours ago












1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















16














You can't have / (byte 0x2F on ASCII-based systems) in a file name, period.



You can use characters that look like / like ⁄ (fraction slash), so you could do:



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%D | sed 's|/|⁄|g').csv"


Or with some shells (zsh, bash at least):



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%D | sed $'s|/|u2044|g').csv"


(using sed instead of tr as some tr implementations including GNU tr still don't support multi-byte characters).



But you may run into problems like the file name being rendered differently in locales using a different charset from the one that was in use at the time you created the file (and of course the confusion of users when they see what looks like a slash in a file name).



My advice would be to use the standard non-ambiguous (for most people outside the US, 03/12/18 would be interpreted as the 3rd of December 2018 for instance) YYYY-mm-dd format instead (which also helps wrt sorting):



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%Y-%m-%d).csv"


Which with many date implementations you can shorten to:



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%F).csv"





share|improve this answer


























  • Other characters similar to slash can also be cumbersome to type in terminal.

    – gronostaj
    59 mins ago











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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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active

oldest

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active

oldest

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oldest

votes









16














You can't have / (byte 0x2F on ASCII-based systems) in a file name, period.



You can use characters that look like / like ⁄ (fraction slash), so you could do:



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%D | sed 's|/|⁄|g').csv"


Or with some shells (zsh, bash at least):



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%D | sed $'s|/|u2044|g').csv"


(using sed instead of tr as some tr implementations including GNU tr still don't support multi-byte characters).



But you may run into problems like the file name being rendered differently in locales using a different charset from the one that was in use at the time you created the file (and of course the confusion of users when they see what looks like a slash in a file name).



My advice would be to use the standard non-ambiguous (for most people outside the US, 03/12/18 would be interpreted as the 3rd of December 2018 for instance) YYYY-mm-dd format instead (which also helps wrt sorting):



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%Y-%m-%d).csv"


Which with many date implementations you can shorten to:



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%F).csv"





share|improve this answer


























  • Other characters similar to slash can also be cumbersome to type in terminal.

    – gronostaj
    59 mins ago
















16














You can't have / (byte 0x2F on ASCII-based systems) in a file name, period.



You can use characters that look like / like ⁄ (fraction slash), so you could do:



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%D | sed 's|/|⁄|g').csv"


Or with some shells (zsh, bash at least):



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%D | sed $'s|/|u2044|g').csv"


(using sed instead of tr as some tr implementations including GNU tr still don't support multi-byte characters).



But you may run into problems like the file name being rendered differently in locales using a different charset from the one that was in use at the time you created the file (and of course the confusion of users when they see what looks like a slash in a file name).



My advice would be to use the standard non-ambiguous (for most people outside the US, 03/12/18 would be interpreted as the 3rd of December 2018 for instance) YYYY-mm-dd format instead (which also helps wrt sorting):



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%Y-%m-%d).csv"


Which with many date implementations you can shorten to:



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%F).csv"





share|improve this answer


























  • Other characters similar to slash can also be cumbersome to type in terminal.

    – gronostaj
    59 mins ago














16












16








16







You can't have / (byte 0x2F on ASCII-based systems) in a file name, period.



You can use characters that look like / like ⁄ (fraction slash), so you could do:



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%D | sed 's|/|⁄|g').csv"


Or with some shells (zsh, bash at least):



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%D | sed $'s|/|u2044|g').csv"


(using sed instead of tr as some tr implementations including GNU tr still don't support multi-byte characters).



But you may run into problems like the file name being rendered differently in locales using a different charset from the one that was in use at the time you created the file (and of course the confusion of users when they see what looks like a slash in a file name).



My advice would be to use the standard non-ambiguous (for most people outside the US, 03/12/18 would be interpreted as the 3rd of December 2018 for instance) YYYY-mm-dd format instead (which also helps wrt sorting):



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%Y-%m-%d).csv"


Which with many date implementations you can shorten to:



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%F).csv"





share|improve this answer















You can't have / (byte 0x2F on ASCII-based systems) in a file name, period.



You can use characters that look like / like ⁄ (fraction slash), so you could do:



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%D | sed 's|/|⁄|g').csv"


Or with some shells (zsh, bash at least):



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%D | sed $'s|/|u2044|g').csv"


(using sed instead of tr as some tr implementations including GNU tr still don't support multi-byte characters).



But you may run into problems like the file name being rendered differently in locales using a different charset from the one that was in use at the time you created the file (and of course the confusion of users when they see what looks like a slash in a file name).



My advice would be to use the standard non-ambiguous (for most people outside the US, 03/12/18 would be interpreted as the 3rd of December 2018 for instance) YYYY-mm-dd format instead (which also helps wrt sorting):



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%Y-%m-%d).csv"


Which with many date implementations you can shorten to:



cp file.csv "file.$(date +%F).csv"






share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 23 mins ago

























answered 16 hours ago









Stéphane ChazelasStéphane Chazelas

312k57589946




312k57589946













  • Other characters similar to slash can also be cumbersome to type in terminal.

    – gronostaj
    59 mins ago



















  • Other characters similar to slash can also be cumbersome to type in terminal.

    – gronostaj
    59 mins ago

















Other characters similar to slash can also be cumbersome to type in terminal.

– gronostaj
59 mins ago





Other characters similar to slash can also be cumbersome to type in terminal.

– gronostaj
59 mins ago


















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