Variables as commands in bash scripts

Question

I am writing a very simple bash script that tars a given directory, encrypts the output of that, and then splits the resultant file into multiple smaller files since the bac

Answer 1

Simply don't put whole commands in variables. You'll get into a lot of trouble trying to recover quoted arguments.

Also:

1. Avoid using all-capitals variable names in scripts. Easy way to shoot yourself on the foot.
2. Don't use backquotes, use $(...) instead, it nests better.

---

#! /bin/bash

if [ $# -ne 2 ]
then
    echo "Usage: $(basename $0) DIRECTORY BACKUP_DIRECTORY"
    exit 1
fi

directory=$1
backup_directory=$2
current_date=$(date +%Y-%m-%dT%H-%M-%S)
backup_file="${backup_directory}/${current_date}.backup"

tar cv "$directory" | openssl des3 -salt | split -b 1024m - "$backup_file"