Since bash -c '${1##*""}' _ foo
prints an empty line, I was expecting bash -c '${1##*"${1##*}"}' _ foo to print an empty line too, but instead it prints foo. Other shells I could find don't have this problem $ sh -c 'echo "${1##*"${1##*}"}"' _ bar $ ash -c 'echo "${1##*"${1##*}"}"' _ bar $ dash -c 'echo "${1##*"${1##*}"}"' _ bar $ ksh -c 'echo "${1##*"${1##*}"}"' _ bar $ yash -c 'echo "${1##*"${1##*}"}"' _ bar $ zsh -c 'echo "${1##*"${1##*}"}"' _ bar $ bash -c 'echo "${1##*"${1##*}"}"' _ bar bar $ bash --posix -c 'echo "${1##*"${1##*}"}"' _ bar bar Is this a bug?