CentOs 7 - how run this command (including quotes/options) using watch? (watch -n2 "command")

Question

I need run the command

awk '{print int($1/3600)":"int(($1%3600)/60)":"int($1%60)}' /proc/uptime

each 2 or 3 seconds, I try multiple options:

watch -n2 "'{print int($1/3600)":"int(($1%3600)/60)":"int($1%60)}' /proc/uptime"
watch -n2 "'{print int($1/3600)":"int(($1%3600)/60)":"int(\$1%60)}' /proc/uptime"
watch -n2 "'{print int(\$1/3600)":"int((\$1%3600)/60)":"int(\$1%60)}' /proc/uptime"
watch -n2 "'{print int(\$1/3600)":"int(\$1%3600/60)":"int(\$1%60)}' /proc/uptime"
watch -n2 "awk '{print int(\$1/3600)":"int(\$1%3600/60)":"int(\$1%60)}' /proc/uptime"
watch -n2 "awk '{print int($1/3600)":"int(($1%3600)/60)":"int($1%60)}' /proc/uptime"
watch -n2 "awk '{print int(\$1/3600)":"int((\$1%3600)/60)":"int(\$1%60)}' /proc/uptime"

and more...

but never work for me

thanks

Answer 1

You have to escape " inside " too.

watch "awk '{print int(\$1/3600)\":\"int(\$1%3600/60)\":\"int(\$1%60)}' /proc/uptime"

but really, just

watch -x awk '{print int($1/3600)":"int($1%3600/60)":"int($1%60)}' /proc/uptime

When in doubt, use printf "%q" to quote stuff. I wonder if the following is fine:

watch "$(printf "%q " awk '{print int($1/3600)":"int(($1%3600)/60)":"int($1%60)}' /proc/uptime)"

But in interactive shell, I would just make a function, it's the simplest:

f() { awk '{print int($1/3600)":"int(($1%3600)/60)":"int($1%60)}' /proc/uptime; }
export -f f
watch bash -c f