Output in variable shouldn't be interpreted as command So this question was asked some times already, but the answers didn't seem to work for me. So I have this simple script #!/bin/bash charon_id = $(pidof charon) kill -1 $charon_id And console says `charon_id: command not found`* I've tried different versions, with `"` around the `$( )`, `;` after the lines, even the `$(... 2>&1)` I saw somewhere. Nothing has helped so far. Suggestions? * translated from console language into English

Your problem is with spaces

You wrote


charon_id = $(pidof charon)


This means "run the command `charon_id` with two parameters; first is the `=` character and the second is the output of the `$(..)` command

It should be


charon_id=$(pidof charon)


Now you assign the output to the variable.