Re: [@]@A weird behaviour when IFS does not contain space

[Chet Ramey]

On 7/4/24 2:51 AM, Emanuele Torre wrote:
> Hello.
>
> Normally, ${foo[@]@A} expands to multiple values, that are the arguments
> to run a declare command that sets foo to the current value/attributes.
>
>      bash-5.2$ a=( abc xyz 123 ); declare -pa result=("${a[@]@A}")
>      declare -a result=([0]="declare" [1]="-a" [2]="a=([0]=\"abc\" [1]=\"xyz\" 
> [2]=\"123\")")
>      bash-5.2$ a=( abc xyz 123 ); echoargs "${a[@]@A}"
>      $1='declare'
>      $2='-a'
>      $3='a=([0]="abc" [1]="xyz" [2]="123")'
>
> Today, I have noticed that if IFS is set to a value that does not
> include space, [@]@A will expand to a single value

OK. Is that a problem? The man page says "when evaluated," and running the
result through `eval' -- properly quoted -- produces the expected results.
If there's an issue with making the expansion eval-safe, let's look at that.

--
``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer
                 ``Ars longa, vita brevis'' - Hippocrates
Chet Ramey, UTech, CWRU    chet@case.edu    http://tiswww.cwru.edu/~chet/