AWS CLI not allowing spaces in string passed to flag value

[Ali-Khalifa98]

I am trying to execute aws cli command with flag --description "Hello World" but it fails because of the white space.

example command am trying:

aws lexv2-models update-intent --description "Hello World"

the error I receive

Unknown options: World"

[uldyssian-sh]

This is not an AWS CLI limitation — it is a shell parsing issue.

The AWS CLI fully supports spaces in flag values, but the shell must pass the value as a single argument. The error you see means the shell is splitting the string before it reaches AWS CLI.

Use the quoting rules appropriate for your shell.

On Bash / zsh (Linux, macOS, WSL):

aws lexv2-models update-intent --description "Hello World"

or equivalently:

aws lexv2-models update-intent --description 'Hello World'

On Windows PowerShell (recommended):

aws lexv2-models update-intent --description "Hello World"

or:

aws lexv2-models update-intent --description 'Hello World'

On Windows CMD, make sure you are using straight quotes (not smart quotes) and not escaping incorrectly:

aws lexv2-models update-intent --description "Hello World"

If the command still fails, double-check that:

• the quotes are ASCII quotes ("), not typographic quotes
• the command is not being executed through another layer (script, CI, npm, etc.) that strips or reinterprets quotes

In short: AWS CLI accepts spaces just fine — the issue is always how the shell passes the argument, not the CLI itself.

[uldyssian-sh]

Thanks! If this helps, please consider marking it as “Helpful” or “Accepted” 😊