> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://notes.eliasnorrby.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://notes.eliasnorrby.com/bash/change-quote-mid-string.md). # Change quote style mid-string When building a string in bash, we're not limited to one type of quotes (i.e. single `'` or double `"` quotes) - you can switch mid string. This is especially useful if we require double quotes for part of the string to interpolate a variable, but using double quotes for the entire string would require many other characters to be escaped. Say we have this `grep` command for finding `yaml` code blocks within a markdown file: ````bash grep -E '^[[:space:]]*```ya?ml[[:space:]]*$' example.md ```` If we want to use a variable for the language part, we can use double quotes for just that part of the string, eliminating the need to escape the backticks: ````bash language='ya?ml' grep -E '^[[:space:]]*```'"$language"'[[:space:]]*$' test/assets/example.md ```` --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://notes.eliasnorrby.com/bash/change-quote-mid-string.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.