The Stages of Word Expansion
----------------------------
When word expansion is applied to a sequence of words, it performs
the following transformations in the order shown here:
1. "Tilde expansion": Replacement of `~foo' with the name of the home
directory of `foo'.
2. Next, three different transformations are applied in the same step,
from left to right:
* "Variable substitution": Environment variables are
substituted for references such as `$foo'.
* "Command substitution": Constructs such as ``cat foo`' and
the equivalent `$(cat foo)' are replaced with the output from
the inner command.
* "Arithmetic expansion": Constructs such as `$(($x-1))' are
replaced with the result of the arithmetic computation.
3. "Field splitting": subdivision of the text into "words".
4. "Wildcard expansion": The replacement of a construct such as `*.c'
with a list of `.c' file names. Wildcard expansion applies to an
entire word at a time, and replaces that word with 0 or more file
names that are themselves words.
5. "Quote removal": The deletion of string-quotes, now that they have
done their job by inhibiting the above transformations when
appropriate.
For the details of these transformations, and how to write the
constructs that use them, see `The BASH Manual' (to appear).
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