calling bash function with a string

Let's examine the various behaviors here for a minute.

$ # Helper function to show some useful details.
$ c ()
{
    printf 'argc: %s\n' "$#";
    printf 'argv: %s\n' "$@"
}
$ # The function in question.
$ t ()
{
    printf '$*\n';
    c $*;
    $*;
    printf '"$*"\n';
    c "$*";
    "$*";
    printf '$@\n';
    c $@;
    $@;
    printf '"$@"\n';
    c "$@";
    "$@"
}

If we call the function like this t "echo foo" we get

$*
argc: 2
argv: echo
argv: foo
foo
"$*"
argc: 1
argv: echo foo
-bash: echo foo: command not found
$@
argc: 2
argv: echo
argv: foo
foo
"$@"
argc: 1
argv: echo foo
-bash: echo foo: command not found

• The $* and $@ versions expand to two arguments and work correctly.
• The "$*" and "$@" versions expand to a single argument and fail.

What if we call it like this t echo foo?

$*
argc: 2
argv: echo
argv: foo
foo
"$*"
argc: 1
argv: echo foo
-bash: echo foo: command not found
$@
argc: 2
argv: echo
argv: foo
foo
"$@"
argc: 2
argv: echo
argv: foo
foo

• This time the $*, $@ and "$@" versions all expand to two arguments and work.
• Only the "$*" version expands to a single argument and fails.

Ok. That makes sense since $* expands the arguments as individual (unquoted) words; "$*" expands to a single (quoted) word; $@ expands like $*; and "$@" expands to individual (quoted) words.

What about if we try this t echo "foo bar"?

$*
argc: 3
argv: echo
argv: foo
argv: bar
foo bar
"$*"
argc: 1
argv: echo foo bar
-bash: echo foo bar: command not found
$@
argc: 3
argv: echo
argv: foo
argv: bar
foo bar
"$@"
argc: 2
argv: echo
argv: foo bar
foo bar

Now things get interesting.

• $* expands to three arguments. (Ok. I did say "individual (unquoted) words)" before.)
• "$*" expands to one argument. (Right, "single (quoted) word".)
• $@ expands to three arguments. (Right, same as $*.)
• But "$@" expands to two arguments and keeps our internal space correctly. (As I said "individual (quoted) words)".)

This is why, in general, you always quote variables and almost always want to use the @ expansions over the * expansions. Because they handle spaces and metacharacters correctly.

Ultimately though we didn't reproduce your problem when using $* directly. Are you sure you didn't use "$*" instead?

If you quote "cal 2014" like that, you are making it into a single parameter. You may want some_function "cal" "2014" and see if that works better for you. That said, I was not able to reproduce the error you describe.