[RudiVisser]

Hi

Can somebody explain what the hell is happening with this as it's driving me insane. The first 3 are entirely expected, but the latter confuses the crap out of me.

[root@rudi.test test]# echo hello
hello
[root@rudi.test test]# echo echo hello
echo hello
[root@rudi.test test]# (echo echo hello)
echo hello
[root@rudi.test test]# $(echo echo hello)
hello
[root@rudi.test test]# $(echo echo echo hello)
echo hello

Is $(echo built in to just put the command ran after it onto stdout? I don't see any other explanation for this behaviour whilst in a command substitution context ($(..)).

This post has been edited by RudiVisser: 10 October 2012 - 01:50 AM

[sepp2k]

There's nothing special about using echo inside $(). $(echo echo echo hello) executes the command inside the $(), then substitutes the result of executing the command for the $() and executes the resulting command - that's the same thing that would happen using any other command.

echo echo echo hello produces the string echo echo hello, so $(echo echo echo hello) is replaced with echo echo hello. This command is then executed and produces the output "echo hello".

This post has been edited by sepp2k: 10 October 2012 - 02:00 AM

[RudiVisser]

Eugh, now I feel like an idiot and that seems like the simplest thing ever.

Thank you for curing my stupidity