bonsai@mainserver:~$ fooarr=(* "foo"$'\n'"bar") bonsai@mainserver:~$ getarrdecl fooarr "${fooarr[@]}" fooarr=([0]"bin"[1]"dcc"[2]"Desktop"[3]"devel"[4]"ekiga_development"[5]"etc"[6]"gtk-gnutella-downloads"[7]"icons"[8]"incoming"[9]"ip-minds.de"[10]"ircstats"[11]"latex"[12]"ldap.conf"[13]"log"[14]"Mail"[15]"mnt"[16]"net"[17]"News"[18]"plan9"[19]"sabine_elterns.txt"[20]"sources"[21]"Star Trek Enterprise - S01 E16 - Allein.avi"[22]"tacctd_devel"[23]"tests"[24]"torrentDL"[25]"foo bar") improved, with checking. obviously remove the checking if you want. getarrdecl () { local name=$1 f="'" t="'\''" i=0 x="${1}=("; shift; local args=(); args=( "$@" ); while [ $# -ne 0 ] ; do x="${x} [$((count++))]='${1//${f}/${t}}'"; shift; done x="${x} )" echo "$x" bash -xc "$x && n=0 && while [ \$# -ne 0 ]; do [ \"\$1\" = \"\${$name[\$n]}\" ] || { echo bad \$n; exit 1; } && let n=n+1 && shift; done; echo \$n good; exit 0" arg0 "${args[@]}" } getarrdecl "$@"; exit