build argument lists containing whitespace

Question

In bash one can escape arguments that contain whitespace.

foo \"a string\"

This also works for arguments to a command or function:

Answer 1

There are (at least) two ways to do this:

1. Use an array and expand it using "${array[@]}":

   bar() {
       local i=0 args=()
       for arg in "$@"
       do
           args[$i]="prefix $arg"
           ((++i))
       done
   
       foo "${args[@]}"
   }
   

   So, what have we learned? "${array[@]}" is to ${array[*]} what "$@" is to $*.

2. Or if you do not want to use arrays you need to use eval:

   bar() {
       local args=()
       for arg in "$@"
       do
           args="$args \"prefix $arg\""
       done
   
       eval foo $args
   }