mkdir testdir.TMP >testdir.TMP/name a="test*.TMP/\name_doesnt_exist" b="test*.TMP/\name" printf "Unquoted non-matching glob in var:'%s'\n" $a printf "Unquoted matching glob in var: '%s'\n" $b printf "Quoted non-matching glob in var: '%s'\n" "$a" printf "Quoted matching glob in var: '%s'\n" "$b" rm -f testdir.TMP/name rmdir testdir.TMP