Configuration Information [Automatically generated, do not change]: Machine: i686 OS: linux-gnu Compiler: i686-pc-linux-gnu-gcc Compilation CFLAGS: -DPROGRAM='bash' -DCONF_HOSTTYPE='i686' -DCONF_OSTYPE='linux-gnu' -DCONF_MACHTYPE='i686-pc-linux-gnu' -DCONF_VENDOR='pc' -DLOCALEDIR='/usr/share/locale' -DPACKAGE='bash' -DSHELL -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I./include -I./lib -DDEFAULT_PATH_VALUE='/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin' -DSTANDARD_UTILS_PATH='/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin' -DSYS_BASHRC='/etc/bash/bashrc' -DSYS_BASH_LOGOUT='/etc/bash/bash_logout' -DNON_INTERACTIVE_LOGIN_SHELLS -DSSH_SOURCE_BASHRC -O2 -march=native -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer uname output: Linux pena 2.6.38-gentoo #1 SMP Wed Mar 23 00:19:18 EET 2011 i686 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux Machine Type: i686-pc-linux-gnu
Bash Version: 4.2 Patch Level: 10 Release Status: release Description: man bash says the redirection target can only be a single word but bash seems to silently ignore multiple words when no expansions happen Repeat-By: betelgeuse@pena ~/test $ echo foo > a b betelgeuse@pena ~/test $ multi="a b" betelgeuse@pena ~/test $ echo foo > ${multi} bash: ${multi}: ambiguous redirect Fix: I think both cases should give the same error