URL: <https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?67429>
Summary: Possible Inconsistent Redirection Behavior with
Variable Expansion and Trailing Spaces
Group: The GNU Bourne-Again SHell
Submitter: mohos
Submitted: Thu 14 Aug 2025 06:14:59 PM GMT
Category: None
Severity: 3 - Normal
Item Group: None
Status: None
Privacy: Public
Assigned to: None
Open/Closed: Open
Discussion Lock: Any
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Follow-up Comments:
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Date: Thu 14 Aug 2025 06:14:59 PM GMT By: mohos <mohos>
Description:
When performing output redirection with a variable containing a space, Bash
gives an “ambiguous redirect” error in some cases but not in others,
depending on where the space appears in the resulting filename.
Steps to Reproduce:
$ export S=" "
$ >file$S%
bash: file$S%: ambiguous redirect
$ >file$S$
$ ls
file$
Observed Behavior:
In the first case (>file$S%), Bash reports ambiguous redirect.
In the second case (>file$S$), Bash creates a file whose name ends with a
dollar sign, despite $S still expanding to a space.
Expected Behavior:
It seems reasonable to expect that both cases should either:
Produce an ambiguous redirect error, or
Be accepted consistently.
Environment:
Bash version: bash --version → (5.2.37(1)-release x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
OS: (Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS)
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