unset LC_ALL export LC_CTYPE=en_US.ISO8859-1 e= for i in 0 1 2 3; do for j in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7; do for k in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7; do case $i$j$k in 000) continue ;; esac e="$e\n\\$i$j$k" done done done e1=$(printf "$e") e2="$(printf "$e")" [ "${#e1}" = 510 ] || echo length bad [ "$e1" = "$e2" ] || echo e1 != e2 [ "$e1" = "$(printf "$e")" ] || echo quoted bad IFS= [ "$e1" = $(printf "$e") ] || echo unquoted bad