Is there any difference in how variables are referenced in shell script?

Question

Consider the following code:

name=John

echo ${name}

It prints "John", just as expected. Now consider this code:

name=John

echo $name

Again, this code prints "John" just as expected. Both codes work fine.

But I wonder is there any difference between the two, e.g. compatibility?

"$name" is not a definition. You are asking if there is a difference in the way variables are referenced. — William Pursell, May 12 '19 at 13:13
@A.G. Because unquoted expansions are subject to word-splitting and pathname expansion, neither of which you usually want to occur. — chepner, May 12 '19 at 18:33

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered May 12 '19 at 12:08

1

In your case, there is no difference.

In this case, there is:

name=John

echo ${name}Doe
echo $nameDoe

1 Answers1