On macOS 14.5 running Zsh 5.9, the following command crashes Zsh: % zsh -c "printf -v result \" %5'd\"" zsh:printf:1: %5': invalid directive zsh(41890,0x7ff8450ddfc0) malloc: *** error for object 0x600002c811e0: pointer being realloc'd was not allocated zsh(41890,0x7ff8450ddfc0) malloc: *** set a breakpoint in malloc_error_break to debug zsh: abort zsh -c "printf -v result \" %5'd\"" Surprisingly, dropping the -v option, removing the space before the %, or adding an echo command after the printf command avoid the crash: % zsh -c "printf \" %5'd\"" zsh:printf:1: %5': invalid directive *%* % zsh -c "printf -v result \"%5'd\"" zsh:printf:1: %5': invalid directive % zsh -c "printf -v result \" %5'd\"; echo foo" zsh:printf:1: %5': invalid directive foo Philippe