cp $@ ~/dir
cp "$@" ~/dir
Double quotes around $@
(and similarly, ${array[@]}
) prevents globbing and word splitting of individual elements, while still expanding to multiple separate arguments.
Let's say you have four arguments: baz
, foo bar
, *
and /*/*/*/*
"$@"
will expand into exactly that: baz
, foo bar
, *
and /*/*/*/*
$@
will expand into multiple other arguments: baz
, foo
, bar
, file.txt
, otherfile.jpg
, and (eventually) a list of most files on the system
Since the latter is rarely expected or desired, ShellCheck warns about it.
When you want globbing of individual elements.
ShellCheck is a static analysis tool for shell scripts. This page is part of its documentation.