I have set the IFS to x, i.e IFS=x. Now if I check the value of IFS, then it appears to be empty if I do not use double-quotes:~ $ echo $IFS | cat -e$~ $ echo $IFS | cat -ex$~ $ echo $HOME   /home/mar~ $ echo $HOME/home/mar~ $ As seen above, $HOME does not behave like that. What is the reason for such behavior?
echo $IFS does not return the value of IFS
bash