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From: astian <astian@e-nautia.com>
Newsgroups: gnu.bash.bug
Subject: Re: backquote peculiarities
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2019 19:03:00 +0000
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To: chet.ramey@case.edu, Robert Elz <kre@munnari.OZ.AU>
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Chet Ramey:
> On 7/15/19 6:19 PM, astian wrote:
> 
>>> I doubt it makes any difference to the timing, which I think
>>> Chet has already answered, but it is worth pointing out that these
>>> two commands ...
>>>
>>> 			printf '%s\n' "`printf %s "$i"`"
>>> 			printf '%s\n' "$(printf %s "$i")"
>>>
>>> which (I believe)) are supposed to be the same thing, using the
>>> different (ancient, and modern) forms of command substitution aren't
>>> actually the same.   In the first $i is unquoted, in the second it is
>>> quoted.   Here, since its value is just a number and IFS isn't being
>>> fiddled, there is not likely to be any effect, but if you really
>>> want to make those two the same, the first needs to be written as
>>>
>>> 			printf '%s\n' "`printf %s \"$i\"`"
>>>
>>> Such are the joys of `` command substitutions (just avoid them).
>>>
>>> kre
>>
>> Dear Robert Elz, I'm aware of several of its peculiarities and I typically do
>> avoid them.  However, is it true that $i is unquoted in the first case?
> 
> POSIX makes it undefined behavior, and different shells do it differently.
> Bash makes the $i quoted within the `` string, as you discovered.

Ah, thanks for the clarification.  I wonder if the excerpt below (particularly
the last sentence) would be the relevant wording of POSIX, i.e. that some
shells might interpret the command as the concatenation of a double-quoted
string, the unquoted $i, and another double-quoted string:

  "`printf %s "$i"`"  =>  CONCAT("`printf %s ", $i, "`")

Which would then lead to "undefined results".

Cheers.

---

2.2.3 Double-Quotes [0]

Enclosing characters in double-quotes ( "" ) shall preserve the literal value
of all characters within the double-quotes, with the exception of the
characters backquote, <dollar-sign>, and <backslash>, as follows:
  [...]
  `
    The backquote shall retain its special meaning introducing the other
    form of command substitution (see Command Substitution). [...] Either of
    the following cases produces undefined results:
     - A single-quoted or double-quoted string that begins, but does not
       end, within the "`...`" sequence
     - A "`...`" sequence that begins, but does not end, within the same
       double-quoted string
  [...]

0: https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/V3_chap02.html#tag_18_02_03