i3 FAQ - Individual question feed

exec: long string

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 09:50:13 +0000

Hi there, i simply want to open an ebook via `i3-msg`. To do so, i tried to execute the following command i3-msg exec "xdg-open \"/home/johannes/Calibre Library/Robert Faludi/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing (597)/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing - Robert Faludi.pdf\"" unfortunately it doesn't work and the command returns ERROR: Your command: exec xdg-open "/home/johannes/Calibre Library/Robert Faludi/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing (597)/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing - Robert Faludi.pdf" ERROR: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ERROR: Expected one of these tokens: , '[', 'move', 'exec', 'exit', 'restart', 'reload', 'border', 'layout', 'append_layout', 'workspace', 'focus', 'kill', 'open', 'fullscreen', 'split', 'floating', 'mark', 'resize', 'rename', 'nop', 'scratchpad', 'mode' [{"success":true},{"success":false,"parse_error":true,"error":"Expected one of these tokens: , '[', 'move', 'exec', 'exit', 'restart', 'reload', 'border', 'layout', 'append_layout', 'workspace', 'focus', 'kill', 'open', 'fullscreen', 'split', 'floating', 'mark', 'resize', 'rename', 'nop', 'scratchpad', 'mode'","input":"exec xdg-open \"/home/johannes/Calibre Library/Robert Faludi/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing (597)/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing - Robert Faludi.pdf\"","errorposition":" ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^"}] However if i execute a comparable command i3-msg exec "xdg-open \"/home/johannes/Calibre Library/D. J. Amit/Statistical Physics an Introductory Course (164)/Statistical Physics an Introductory Course - D. J. Amit.pdf\"" the specified ebook is opened flawlessly. Of course both files exist. Does anybody know how to successfully execute both commands with `i3-msg exec`?

Answer by Michael for

Hi there,

i simply want to open an ebook via i3-msg. To do so, i tried to execute the following command

i3-msg exec "xdg-open \"/home/johannes/Calibre Library/Robert Faludi/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing (597)/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing - Robert Faludi.pdf\""

unfortunately it doesn't work and the command returns

ERROR: Your command: exec xdg-open "/home/johannes/Calibre Library/Robert Faludi/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing (597)/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing - Robert Faludi.pdf"
ERROR:                                                                                                                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ERROR: Expected one of these tokens: <end>, '[', 'move', 'exec', 'exit', 'restart', 'reload', 'border', 'layout', 'append_layout', 'workspace', 'focus', 'kill', 'open', 'fullscreen', 'split', 'floating', 'mark', 'resize', 'rename', 'nop', 'scratchpad', 'mode'
[{"success":true},{"success":false,"parse_error":true,"error":"Expected one of these tokens: <end>, '[', 'move', 'exec', 'exit', 'restart', 'reload', 'border', 'layout', 'append_layout', 'workspace', 'focus', 'kill', 'open', 'fullscreen', 'split', 'floating', 'mark', 'resize', 'rename', 'nop', 'scratchpad', 'mode'","input":"exec xdg-open \"/home/johannes/Calibre Library/Robert Faludi/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing (597)/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing - Robert Faludi.pdf\"","errorposition":"                                                                                                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^"}]

However if i execute a comparable command

i3-msg exec "xdg-open \"/home/johannes/Calibre Library/D. J. Amit/Statistical Physics an Introductory Course (164)/Statistical Physics an Introductory Course - D. J. Amit.pdf\""

the specified ebook is opened flawlessly. Of course both files exist.

Does anybody know how to successfully execute both commands with i3-msg exec?

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 10:35:59 +0000

As always in shell, problems can be solved by adding more quotes ;-). i3-msg 'exec "xdg-open \"/home/johannes/Calibre Library/Robert Faludi/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing (597)/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing - Robert Faludi.pdf\""' Is what you want. In the command you tried, you were quoting the second argument (xdg-open "/home…), but your shell is the thing which interprets that. Therefore, the shell ran exec("i3-msg", "exec", "xdg-open \"…\"") And therefore, i3 received 2013-06-08 12:31:46 - commands_parser.c:parse_command:209 - COMMAND: *exec xdg-open "/home/johannes/Calibre Library/Robert Faludi/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing (597)/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing - Robert Faludi.pdf"* Whereas with my command, the shell runs exec("i3-msg", "exec \"xdg-open \\"…\\"\"") Therefore, i3 receives 2013-06-08 12:31:56 - commands_parser.c:parse_command:209 - COMMAND: *exec "xdg-open \"/home/johannes/Calibre Library/Robert Faludi/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing (597)/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing - Robert Faludi.pdf\""* Which is properly quoted. The error message highlighted that the comma (,) in your filename is the problem — it separates i3 commands, which is why one filename worked and the other one did not.

Comment by nichtleiter for

As always in shell, problems can be solved by adding more quotes ;-).

i3-msg 'exec "xdg-open \"/home/johannes/Calibre Library/Robert Faludi/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing (597)/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing - Robert Faludi.pdf\""'

Is what you want.

In the command you tried, you were quoting the second argument (xdg-open "/home…), but your shell is the thing which interprets that. Therefore, the shell ran

exec("i3-msg", "exec", "xdg-open \"…\"")

And therefore, i3 received

2013-06-08 12:31:46 - commands_parser.c:parse_command:209 - COMMAND: *exec xdg-open "/home/johannes/Calibre Library/Robert Faludi/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing (597)/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing - Robert Faludi.pdf"*

Whereas with my command, the shell runs

exec("i3-msg", "exec \"xdg-open \\"…\\"\"")

Therefore, i3 receives

2013-06-08 12:31:56 - commands_parser.c:parse_command:209 - COMMAND: *exec "xdg-open \"/home/johannes/Calibre Library/Robert Faludi/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing (597)/Building Wireless Sensor Networks_ With ZigBee, XBee, Arduino, and Processing - Robert Faludi.pdf\""*

Which is properly quoted. The error message highlighted that the comma (,) in your filename is the problem — it separates i3 commands, which is why one filename worked and the other one did not.

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 10:42:48 +0000

Thanks a lot for your quick reply and the thorough explanation! You just made my day...