In bash, if you do this:
mkdir /tmp/empty array=(/tmp/empty/*)
you find that array now has one element, \"/tmp/empty/*\"
array
\"/tmp/empty/*\"
This is the simplest solution I've found:
For example, to expand the literal **/*.mp3 into a glob for only a particular variable, you can use
**/*.mp3
VAR=**/*.mp3(N)
Source: https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/204944/56160