a='abc' r=${a//b/\041#} echo 1 $r echo 2 ${a//b/\041#} echo 3 "${a//b/\041#}" a='abc' r=${a//b/\\041#} echo 4 $r echo 5 ${a//b/\\041#} echo 6 "${a//b/\\041#}" a='abc' b='\041#' r=${a//b/$b} echo 7 $r echo 8 ${a//b/$b} echo 9 "${a//b/$b}" a='abc' b='\' r="${a//b/$b}" echo 10 $r echo 11 ${a//b/$b} echo 12 "${a//b/$b}" a='abc' b='\\' r="${a//b/$b}" echo 13 $r echo 14 ${a//b/$b} echo 15 "${a//b/$b}" a='abc' b='\t' r="${a//b/$b}" echo 16 $r echo 17 ${a//b/$b} echo 18 "${a//b/$b}" echo 19 ${a//b/\t} echo 20 "${a//b/\t}"