SYSTEMD-ESCAPE(1)

SYSTEMD-ESCAPE(1)               systemd-escape               SYSTEMD-ESCAPE(1)

NAME
       systemd-escape - Escape strings for usage in systemd unit names

SYNOPSIS
       systemd-escape [OPTIONS...] [STRING...]

DESCRIPTION
       systemd-escape may be used to escape strings for inclusion in systemd
       unit names. The command may be used to escape and to undo escaping of
       strings.

       The command takes any number of strings on the command line, and will
       process them individually, one after another. It will output them
       separated by spaces to stdout.

       By default, this command will escape the strings passed, unless
       --unescape is passed which results in the inverse operation being
       applied. If --mangle is given, a special mode of escaping is applied
       instead, which assumes the string is already escaped but will escape
       everything that appears obviously non-escaped.

       For details on the escaping and unescaping algorithms see the relevant
       section in systemd.unit(5).

OPTIONS
       The following options are understood:

       --suffix=
           Appends the specified unit type suffix to the escaped string. Takes
           one of the unit types supported by systemd, such as "service" or
           "mount". May not be used in conjunction with --template=,
           --unescape or --mangle.

       --template=
           Inserts the escaped strings in a unit name template. Takes a unit
           name template such as foobar@.service. With --unescape, expects
           instantiated unit names for this template and extracts and
           unescapes just the instance part. May not be used in conjunction
           with --suffix=, --instance or --mangle.

       --path, -p
           When escaping or unescaping a string, assume it refers to a file
           system path. This eliminates leading, trailing or duplicate "/"
           characters and rejects "."  and ".."  path components. This is
           particularly useful for generating strings suitable for unescaping
           with the "%f" specifier in unit files, see systemd.unit(5).

       --unescape, -u
           Instead of escaping the specified strings, undo the escaping,
           reversing the operation. May not be used in conjunction with
           --suffix= or --mangle.

       --mangle, -m
           Like --escape, but only escape characters that are obviously not
           escaped yet, and possibly automatically append an appropriate unit
           type suffix to the string. May not be used in conjunction with
           --suffix=, --template= or --unescape.

       --instance
           With --unescape, unescape and print only the instance part of an
           instantiated unit name template. Results in an error for an
           uninstantiated template like ssh@.service or a non-template name
           like ssh.service. Must be used in conjunction with --unescape and
           may not be used in conjunction with --template.

       -h, --help
           Print a short help text and exit.

       --version
           Print a short version string and exit.

EXAMPLES
       To escape a single string:

           $ systemd-escape 'Hallochen, Meister'
           Hall\xc3\xb6chen\x2c\x20Meister

       To undo escaping on a single string:

           $ systemd-escape -u 'Hall\xc3\xb6chen\x2c\x20Meister'
           Hallochen, Meister

       To generate the mount unit for a path:

           $ systemd-escape -p --suffix=mount "/tmp//waldi/foobar/"
           tmp-waldi-foobar.mount

       To generate instance names of three strings:

           $ systemd-escape --template=systemd-nspawn@.service 'My Container 1' 'containerb' 'container/III'
           systemd-nspawn@My\x20Container\x201.service systemd-nspawn@containerb.service systemd-nspawn@container-III.service

       To extract the instance part of an instantiated unit:

           $ systemd-escape -u --instance 'systemd-nspawn@My\x20Container\x201.service'
           My Container 1

       To extract the instance part of an instance of a particular template:

           $ systemd-escape -u --template=systemd-nspawn@.service 'systemd-nspawn@My\x20Container\x201.service'
           My Container 1

EXIT STATUS
       On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.

SEE ALSO
       systemd(1), systemd.unit(5), systemctl(1)

systemd 245                                                  SYSTEMD-ESCAPE(1)