When to use quotes in command line? cp versus find - command-line

Question

I'm wondering if there is some pattern or trick to remember when or when not to use quotes in command line arguments.
e.g. what is the difference between:
find -type f -name "*<extension-with-quotes>"
and
cp <extension-without-quotes> ../<new-folder>
One needs quotes and one does not, else it gives an error. Why?

Answer 1

You need quotes if you don't want the shell expanding the arguments, but instead want the argument passed through verbatim to whatever program you're trying to run. See, for example, the following program:
#include <stdio.h>
int main (int argc, char *argv[]) {
printf ("Argument count = %d\n", argc);
for (int i = 0; i < argc; i++)
printf (" %2d: [%s]\n", i, argv[i]);
return 0;
}
which outputs its argument count and arguments. The following transcript shows how it runs with and without quotes:
$ ./testprog "*.sh"
Argument count = 2
0: [./testprog]
1: [*.sh]
$ ./testprog *.sh
Argument count = 7
0: [./testprog]
1: [xmit.sh]
2: [gen.sh]
3: [morph.sh]
4: [prog.sh]
5: [mon.sh]
6: [test.sh]
So, for example, if you're in a directory with three log files, the shell will change your:
ls *.log
into:
ls a.log b.log c.log
before handing that list on to the ls program (the ls program will never see the *.log at all).
However, find expects a file pattern rather than a list of files, so it will want the *.log passed through as is, one single argument rather than three individual arguments expanded by the shell.
In fact, if you had only a.log in the current directory, an unquoted *.log would only find files called a.log regardless of how many other log files existed in the directories below. That's because find never saw the *.log, only the a.log that the shell expanded it to.
A similar example is with expr. If you want to know what three times seven is, you don't want to be doing:
expr 3 * 7
since the shell will first expand * into all the files in the current directory:
3 dallas_buyers_club.avi nsa_agent_list.txt whitehouse_bomb.odt 7
and expr won't be able to make much sense of that1. The correct way of doing it is along the lines of:
expr 3 '*' 7
in effect preserving the * so the program gets it unchanged.
1 Special note to the NSA, CIA, MPAA and other dark shadowy organisations formed to strike fear into the hearts of mortal men. That file list is fictional humour. I really don't want any men in dark suits showing up at my front door :-)