1<?xml version='1.0'?> <!--*-nxml-*-->
2<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
3  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
4<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later -->
5
6<refentry id="systemd-escape"
7    xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
8
9  <refentryinfo>
10    <title>systemd-escape</title>
11    <productname>systemd</productname>
12  </refentryinfo>
13
14  <refmeta>
15    <refentrytitle>systemd-escape</refentrytitle>
16    <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
17  </refmeta>
18
19  <refnamediv>
20    <refname>systemd-escape</refname>
21    <refpurpose>Escape strings for usage in systemd unit names</refpurpose>
22  </refnamediv>
23
24  <refsynopsisdiv>
25    <cmdsynopsis>
26      <command>systemd-escape</command>
27      <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">OPTIONS</arg>
28      <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">STRING</arg>
29    </cmdsynopsis>
30  </refsynopsisdiv>
31
32  <refsect1>
33    <title>Description</title>
34
35    <para><command>systemd-escape</command> may be used to escape
36    strings for inclusion in systemd unit names. The command may be
37    used to escape and to undo escaping of strings.</para>
38
39    <para>The command takes any number of strings on the command line,
40    and will process them individually, one after another. It will
41    output them separated by spaces to stdout.</para>
42
43    <para>By default, this command will escape the strings passed,
44    unless <option>--unescape</option> is passed which results in the
45    inverse operation being applied. If <option>--mangle</option> is given, a
46    special mode of escaping is applied instead, which assumes the
47    string is already escaped but will escape everything that
48    appears obviously non-escaped.</para>
49
50    <para>For details on the escaping and unescaping algorithms see the relevant section in
51    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
52  </refsect1>
53
54  <refsect1>
55    <title>Options</title>
56
57    <para>The following options are understood:</para>
58
59    <variablelist>
60      <varlistentry>
61        <term><option>--suffix=</option></term>
62
63        <listitem><para>Appends the specified unit type suffix to the
64        escaped string. Takes one of the unit types supported by
65        systemd, such as <literal>service</literal> or
66        <literal>mount</literal>. May not be used in conjunction with
67        <option>--template=</option>, <option>--unescape</option> or
68        <option>--mangle</option>.</para></listitem>
69      </varlistentry>
70
71      <varlistentry>
72        <term><option>--template=</option></term>
73
74        <listitem><para>Inserts the escaped strings in a unit name
75        template. Takes a unit name template such as
76        <filename>foobar@.service</filename>. With
77        <option>--unescape</option>, expects instantiated unit names
78        for this template and extracts and unescapes just the instance
79        part. May not be used in conjunction with
80        <option>--suffix=</option>,
81        <option>--instance</option> or
82        <option>--mangle</option>.</para></listitem>
83      </varlistentry>
84
85      <varlistentry>
86        <term><option>--path</option></term>
87        <term><option>-p</option></term>
88
89        <listitem><para>When escaping or unescaping a string, assume it refers to a file system path. This eliminates
90        leading, trailing or duplicate <literal>/</literal> characters and rejects <literal>.</literal> and
91        <literal>..</literal> path components. This is particularly useful for generating strings suitable for
92        unescaping with the <literal>%f</literal> specifier in unit files, see
93        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
94        </para></listitem>
95      </varlistentry>
96
97      <varlistentry>
98        <term><option>--unescape</option></term>
99        <term><option>-u</option></term>
100
101        <listitem><para>Instead of escaping the specified strings,
102        undo the escaping, reversing the operation. May not be used in
103        conjunction with <option>--suffix=</option> or
104        <option>--mangle</option>.</para></listitem>
105      </varlistentry>
106
107      <varlistentry>
108        <term><option>--mangle</option></term>
109        <term><option>-m</option></term>
110
111        <listitem><para>Like <option>--escape</option>, but only
112        escape characters that are obviously not escaped yet, and
113        possibly automatically append an appropriate unit type suffix
114        to the string. May not be used in conjunction with
115        <option>--suffix=</option>, <option>--template=</option> or
116        <option>--unescape</option>.</para></listitem>
117      </varlistentry>
118
119      <varlistentry>
120        <term><option>--instance</option></term>
121
122        <listitem><para>With <option>--unescape</option>, unescape
123        and print only the instance part of an instantiated unit name
124        template. Results in an error for an uninstantiated template
125        like <filename>ssh@.service</filename> or a non-template name
126        like <filename>ssh.service</filename>.
127        Must be used in conjunction with <option>--unescape</option>
128        and may not be used in conjunction with
129        <option>--template</option>.</para></listitem>
130      </varlistentry>
131
132      <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="help" />
133      <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="version" />
134    </variablelist>
135
136  </refsect1>
137
138  <refsect1>
139    <title>Examples</title>
140
141    <para>To escape a single string:</para>
142    <programlisting>$ systemd-escape 'Hallöchen, Meister'
143Hall\xc3\xb6chen\x2c\x20Meister</programlisting>
144
145    <para>To undo escaping on a single string:</para>
146    <programlisting>$ systemd-escape -u 'Hall\xc3\xb6chen\x2c\x20Meister'
147Hallöchen, Meister</programlisting>
148
149    <para>To generate the mount unit for a path:</para>
150    <programlisting>$ systemd-escape -p --suffix=mount "/tmp//waldi/foobar/"
151tmp-waldi-foobar.mount</programlisting>
152
153    <para>To generate instance names of three strings:</para>
154    <programlisting>$ systemd-escape --template=systemd-nspawn@.service 'My Container 1' 'containerb' 'container/III'
155systemd-nspawn@My\x20Container\x201.service systemd-nspawn@containerb.service systemd-nspawn@container-III.service</programlisting>
156
157    <para>To extract the instance part of an instantiated unit:</para>
158    <programlisting>$ systemd-escape -u --instance 'systemd-nspawn@My\x20Container\x201.service'
159My Container 1</programlisting>
160
161    <para>To extract the instance part of an instance of a particular template:</para>
162    <programlisting>$ systemd-escape -u --template=systemd-nspawn@.service 'systemd-nspawn@My\x20Container\x201.service'
163My Container 1</programlisting>
164  </refsect1>
165
166  <refsect1>
167    <title>Exit status</title>
168
169    <para>On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code
170    otherwise.</para>
171  </refsect1>
172
173  <refsect1>
174    <title>See Also</title>
175    <para>
176      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
177      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
178      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
179    </para>
180  </refsect1>
181
182</refentry>
183