LPIC-1 Shells, Scripting and Data Management Practice Question
A senior administrator runs a script that processes a CSV file. The script contains the following snippet: 'for field in $(cat data.csv); do ...'. The data.csv file contains lines like: 'John Doe, 123 Main St, Springfield'. The script fails to process correctly, splitting fields incorrectly and causing errors. Which of the following is the most appropriate fix?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates think quoting the command substitution or using `xargs` will fix the splitting issue, but they fail to recognize that `for` inherently splits on IFS, whereas `while read` processes one line at a time without word splitting.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use a while loop with read: 'while IFS= read -r line; do ... done < data.csv'
The script fails due to word splitting and globbing when iterating over the output of `cat data.csv` with a `for` loop. Using `while IFS= read -r line` reads each line verbatim, preserving spaces and commas, and is the standard pattern for processing CSV or delimited files line by line in bash.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use xargs to process each line
Why it's wrong here
xargs splits on whitespace by default, not suitable for CSV.
- ✗
Use 'for field in $(<data.csv)' with proper quoting
Why it's wrong here
Still uses command substitution, splitting on whitespace.
- ✗
Use 'for field in "$(cat data.csv)"' with double quotes around the substitution
Why it's wrong here
Treats the entire file as one string.
- ✓
Use a while loop with read: 'while IFS= read -r line; do ... done < data.csv'
Why this is correct
Reads each line correctly with IFS= to preserve whitespace.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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