How to store a path with white spaces into a variable in bash

Question

I want to store /c/users/me/dir name into a variable to pass it to cd system call.

Works when typing:

$ cd \'/c/users/me/dir

Answer 1

While using a bash variable you should double-quote it to preserve its state.

x='/home/ps/temp/bla bla'
 cd $x      ### <----used without double quotes. 
sh: cd: /home/ps/temp/bla: No such file or directory


 cd "$x"    ### <---While using a bash variable you should double-quote it to presever its state.
 pwd
/home/ps/temp/bla bla

Answer 2

Double-quote your path variable with spaces, to preserve it,

dirName="/c/users/me/dir name"
cd "$dirName"

Actually, dirname is a shell built-in, recommend using an alternate name to avoid confusion with the actual command.

From the man bash page,

Enclosing characters in double quotes (‘"’) preserves the literal value of all characters within the quotes, with the exception of ‘$’, ‘`’, ‘\’, and, when history expansion is enabled, ‘!’.