Why is branch being set to 'm' rather than 'master' in this example?
$ branch="[master]"
$ echo $branch
m
This happens from any directory I am in, but only on my mac and not on one of my linux boxes.
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I can not reproduce this behavior. Please provide more info on the bash version, OS etcIvaylo Strandjev– Ivaylo Strandjev2012-04-17 13:31:02 +00:00Commented Apr 17, 2012 at 13:31
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3 Answers
Looks like file name expansion, do you have a file in the current directory called m?
1 Comment
l0b0
@ScottFrazer: Compare with
echo * or touch a b c; echo [abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz] - It lists files which match the expression. If you want to avoid expansion, Use More Quotes.Maybe some kind of escaping issue, have you tried to escape the [ and ]?
Edit: I can reproduce the behaviour on my system, but only if a file named m exists:
[sf@zeus:~] touch m
[sf@zeus:~] branch="[master]"
[sf@zeus:~] echo $branch
m
Comments
Indeed, just like unwind says, this has to do with file name expansion.
[15:33] ~$ branch="[master]"
[15:33] ~$ echo $branch
[master]
[15:33] ~$ touch m
[15:33] ~$ echo $branch
m
[15:33] ~$
There must be a file or directory in your current directory named m.
A possible remedy for this is to use quoting:
$ ls m # `m' exists
m
$ echo "$branch" # yet this echoes "[master]"
[master]
