quoting question

[Jim <linux.tech.guy@gmail.com>]

[-- Attachment #1.1: Type: text/plain, Size: 808 bytes --]

Hi everyone,

Zsh quoting at times makes me wonder. Do quoting? Don't do quoting?
The following case has me scratching my head.  Can someone explain what is
going on?

datetimetest ()
{
  local     DT
  DT="${(%):-%D{%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z}}"
  print $DT
  DT=${(%):-%D{%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z}}
  print $DT
  print -- "${(%):-%D{%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z}}"
  print -- ${(%):-%D{%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z}}
  print -- "Date and Time:  ${(%):-%D{%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z}} Test"
}

Output:

2023-09-12 13:21:40 CDT}    <--  why "}" when quoted
2023-09-12 13:21:40 CDT
2023-09-12 13:21:40 CDT}    <--  why "}" when quoted
2023-09-12 13:21:40 CDT
Date and Time:  2023-09-12 13:21:40 CDT} Test    <--  why "}" when quoted

ZSH_PATCHLEVEL:  zsh-5.9-208-gf80ad32

Also included test function in an attachment.

Regards,

Jim Murphy

[-- Attachment #1.2: Type: text/html, Size: 1202 bytes --]

[-- Attachment #2: datetimetest.txt --]
[-- Type: text/plain, Size: 294 bytes --]

datetimetest ()
{
  local     DT
  DT="${(%):-%D{%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z}}"
  print $DT
  DT=${(%):-%D{%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z}}
  print $DT
  print -- "${(%):-%D{%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z}}"
  print -- ${(%):-%D{%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z}}
  print -- "Date and Time:  ${(%):-%D{%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z}} Test"
}