Using bash, generating arguements for the linux find command by a FOR loop, causes errors [duplicate]

As part of a larger script, I am trying to loop through an array of directories to apply a single linux find command. I am trying to make 1 single call to find because I want to pipe the output to some other commands.

Attempt 1 - Without escaping quotes:

# No escape  COLORS=('purple' 'royal blue')  FIND_ARGS=    for C in "${COLORS[@]}";  do      echo "C is $C"      FIND_ARGS+="'${C}' "        done  echo "Arguments for find: $FIND_ARGS"  find $FIND_ARGS -type f    ## I even tried putting $FIND_ARGS in quotes here but that acts like a single file     ## OUTPUT:  # C is purple  # C is royal blue  # Arguments for find: 'purple' 'royal blue'  # find: '\'purple\'': No such file or directory  # find: '\'royal': No such file or directory  # find: 'blue\'': No such file or directory  

With Escapes:

FIND_ARGS=  # With Escape  for C in "${COLORS[@]}";  do      echo "C is $C"      FIND_ARGS+="\'${C}\' "    ## Changed original code here to include escapes        done  echo "Arguments for find: $FIND_ARGS"  find $FIND_ARGS -type f    ## OUTPUT:  # C is purple  # C is royal blue  # Arguments for find: \'purple\' \'royal blue\'  # find: '\\\'purple\\\'': No such file or directory  # find: '\\\'royal': No such file or directory  # find: 'blue\\\'': No such file or directory  

Simple working command run from bash prompt:

## Working Template:  find "purple" "royal blue" -type f    # Output:  # All files in both directories  

I am pretty new to bash scripting. Is there a special way that I should be calling this? I looked at the man page for find to see if there is a flag that I need to set, but its rather large, so I could have easily missed it.

Resolution There is no need for the loop. The shell works with the array itself:

find "${COLORS[@]}" -type f  

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65784073/using-bash-generating-arguements-for-the-linux-find-command-by-a-for-loop-caus January 19, 2021 at 08:50AM