> Yes it *has* to be quoted because it is *one* argument that should > be passed to mf. I'm not on Unix, so I cannot test, but I think the following works in usual shells: - cmd="$MF \mode:=$MODE; mag:=$MAG; nonstopmode; input $NAME" + cmd="$MF \\mode:=$MODE; mag:=$MAG; nonstopmode; input $NAME" Best, Akira