pass "$@" to AppleScript

Question

So I have the following script saved as usr/local/bin/spawn which opens a process in a new terminal window, and then closes that window:

#!/bin/sh
osascript <<END
tell app "Terminal" to do script "$1; logout"
END

So I can do

$ spawn nano

to open a new terminal window with nano running, and when I close nano the window also closes.

However, to spawn a command with arguments, like java -jar foo.jar, I need to use

$ spawn "java -jar foo.jar"

Is there a way to change the script so that the same will work without the quotes? For example,

$ spawn java -jar foo.jar

I have tried using the trick from this answer to a question that doesn't deal with AppleScript. However that always caused Terminal.app to crash when I tried using spawn. Is there a way to escape the "$@" or a different implementation for this problem? It doesn't necessarily have to use AppleScript.

Tyilo · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-20T13:14:04.047

0

#!/bin/sh
osascript <<END
tell app "Terminal" to do script "$@; logout"
END

seems to work for me.

Another option that would solve your problem would be to save the code to be executed in a file in a temporary folder and open it with Terminal like so:

#!/bin/sh
file=$(mktemp $TMPDIR/spawnXXXXXX)
echo '#!/bin/sh' > "$file"
echo "$@" >> "$file"
chmod +x "$file"
open -a Terminal "$file"

Or if you would like to open it in your current terminal program (Terminal, iTerm 2, etc.) you could use this script:

#!/bin/sh
file=$(mktemp $TMPDIR/spawnXXXXXX.command)
echo '#!/bin/sh' > "$file"
echo "$@" >> "$file"
chmod +x "$file"
open "$file"

edited Dec 20 '12 at 13:14

answered Dec 19 '12 at 08:49

Tyilo

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That works, but doesn't solve the escape problem Lauri Ranta brought up. – Fenhl Dec 20 '12 at 10:06
@Fenhl I don't know how to do that using applescript, but I think I solved your problem. – Tyilo Dec 20 '12 at 13:14

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 19 '12 at 12:09

0

Your script isn't escaped properly either. spawn 'echo "a"' would result in an error because of the double quotes.

You can use the run handler to pass arguments to osascript:

#!/bin/bash

osascript - "$*" <<END
on run args
tell app "Terminal"
do script item 1 of args
do script "logout" in window 1
end
end
END

"$*" is like "$@" but with all arguments in a single word.

answered Dec 19 '12 at 12:09

Lri

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This approach kills the original Terminal window the instant the new one is spawned. – Fenhl Dec 20 '12 at 10:08
@Fenhl What do you mean with kill? The logout command should be run in the opened window. If you actually want to close the new window, replace `do script "logout" in window 1` with `close window 1`. – Lri Dec 20 '12 at 14:39
I meant closes, sorry. And I don't know a lot about AppleScript, but it looks like `window 1` refers to the window where I called the `spawn` script. – Fenhl Dec 24 '12 at 00:21

pass "$@" to AppleScript

2 Answers2