I'm also interested in this. We already have some functions that return an array through REPLY in bash-completion (see e.g. Ref. [1]).
[1] https://github.com/scop/bash-completion/blob/881d12439916a80aa1d804df57676d665f4f075d/bash_completion#L248 I actually suggested the same feature in Ref. [2] with a slightly different syntax. I chose ${@| cmd; } so that it is distinct from ${<word> cmd; } to keep it for future extension. I discussed it partly in Ref. [3]. However, ${@ cmd; } is still a possible option. [2] https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bash/2025-09/msg00023.html [3] https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bash/2025-09/msg00051.html -- Koichi
