I use this hack as a matter of course, having internalised it aeons ago. Bash does lots of things better now but as others have commented it is still so fundame

I use this hack as a matter of course, having internalised it aeons ago. Bash does lots of things better now but as others have commented it is still so fundamentally weird that an innate conservatism is often a wise approach, especially when one lacks the time (or motivation) to explore its "newer" features.