Bash – Command substitution: cat with executable content

bashcatcommand-substitutionshell

I have a file called test and the contents are:

ubuntu@regina:~$ cat test
** test **

catting this file via command line works fine, but if I use command substitution I get an understandable but undesirable result.

ubuntu@regina:~$ A=$(cat test)
ubuntu@regina:~$ echo $A
deployment detect.sh htpasswd.py logs test uwsgi-1.0.4 uwsgi-1.0.4.tar.gz test deployment        detect.sh htpasswd.py logs test uwsgi-1.0.4 uwsgi-1.0.4.tar.gz

Because of the asterisks that exist in the file test it basically executes an echo * and lists the directory contents along with the file contents.

Is there a parameter I can pass to the command substitution syntax that will not provide this result, or is there another idiom that should be used for this?

Best Answer

You want to do echo "$A". Wrapping the variable in the quotes makes it a string.

Example:

[root@talara test]# A=$(<test)
[root@talara test]# echo $A
FILE1 ham test test FILE1 ham test
[root@talara test]# echo "$A"
** test **
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