#!/bin/bash cd ~/redhat/SPECS BUILDOPTS_libsupertone='--define "_smp_mflags -j1"' rpmbuild -ba --target=i386 libsupertone.spec ${BUILDOPTS_libsupertone} # end script When run STDOUT show: rpmbuild -ba --target=i686 libsupertone.spec --define "_smp_mflags -j1" But I get this error: error: Macro % has illegal name (%define) error: Macro % has illegal name (%define) error: Macro % has illegal name (%define) -j1": unknown option