The above one didn't work for me either (it never created the file) but the example someone gave below where it's split up worked for me. run export X="() { (

The above one didn't work for me either (it never created the file) but the example someone gave below where it's split up worked for me. run export X="() { (a)=>\\" now run bash -c 'echo date' Now under no normal circumstances should i have a file named echo in my current directory. But i do! In fact once that environment variable is set everytime i run bash -c 'XXXX date' i end up with a file named XXXX in my current directory. There's no way that should be happening.