quotes in bash script

I want a script to execute the command: ls -alst "dir with spaces" The script looks like this : #! /bin/bash PARAMS_FOR_LS="-alst \"dir with spaces\"" echo $PARAMS_FOR_LS ls $PARAMS_FOR_LS when I execute the script: bash -x script.sh I get: + PARAMS_FOR_LS='-alst "dir with space

script with ssh and filenames with spaces

plz help with this script, I wish to ssh this command to several hosts: ls -alst "dir_with_spaces" This script is close but I need DOUBLE-quotes around the remote command s #! /bin/bash PARAMS_FOR_LS=(-alst "dir with spaces") # get directory of local system ls "${PARAMS_FOR_LS[@]}" # g