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Created SC2304 (markdown)
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## `*` must be escaped to multiply: `\*`. Modern `$((x * y))` avoids this issue.
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### Problematic code:
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```sh
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result=$(expr 2 * 3)
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```
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### Correct code:
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```sh
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# Modern, efficient, POSIX standard approach
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result=$(( 2 * 3 ))
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# Older, slower approach
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result=$(expr 2 \* 3)
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```
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### Rationale:
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When using `expr`, each argument is expanded the same way as for any other command. This means that `expr 2 * 3` will turn into `expr 2 Desktop Documents Downloads Music Pictures 3` depending on the files in the current directory, causing an error like `expr: syntax error: unexpected argument ‘Desktop’`
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The best way to avoid this is to avoid `expr` and instead use `$((..))` instead. If you for any reason prefer the 200x slower, heavyweight process of forking a new process, you can escape the `*`. Both ways are demonstrated in the correct example.
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### Exceptions:
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None
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### Related resources:
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* Help by adding links to BashFAQ, StackOverflow, man pages, POSIX, etc!
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