Removing quotes from a string

Bash:
Removing quotes from a string

How to:

Bash has several ways to remove quotes from strings. Here are some quick examples:

#!/bin/bash

# Using variable substitution to remove both single and double quotes
STRING="\"Hello, World!\""
echo ${STRING//\"}

# Using `tr` to delete quotes
STRING="'Hello, World!'"
echo $STRING | tr -d "\'"

# Using `sed` to delete quotes
STRING="\"Hello, World!\""
echo $STRING | sed 's/"//g'

Sample output:

Hello, World!
Hello, World!
Hello, World!

Deep Dive

Way back when, Unix commands like tr and sed were the primary tools for text processing. They are still in use today for their flexibility and power in handling text transformations like removing quotes. They’re a staple in any shell-scripter’s toolbox.

Bash itself has since evolved and variable substitution adds another layer of simplicity for small-scale string manipulations. It saves you from piping out to external binaries, making your scripts a bit more efficient.

While tr is great for deleting characters, it doesn’t handle more complex patterns. sed, on the other hand, uses regular expressions, so it’s overkill sometimes and might be slower for simple operations.

Choosing between these methods depends on your specific case. If you need to strip a variety of quotes and you’re already in the context of a Bash script, using variable substitution is a no-brainer for its simplicity. But if you’re transforming text streams or multi-line data, tr and sed are your go-to pals.

Bash:Removing quotes from a string

How to:

Deep Dive

See Also:

Bash:
Removing quotes from a string