This is probably more of a unix bash shell question, but I didn't know where else to post. My apologies if this is the wrong forum for this question.

Here is a file with the following contents (4 lines, let's call the file f)...

hello
a b c
“d e f”
'x y z'

Note the double and single quotes on some of the lines.

Here's a C++ program (let's call it nargs)...

Code:
#include <iostream>
int main (int argv, char* argc [])
{
   std::cout << “\n argv = “ << argv << std::endl;
}
1) Executing the following command from the bash shell will output the following...

$ while read line; do printf “$line “; done < f
hello a b c “d e f” 'x y z'

2) Executing the following command from the bash shell will output the following...

$ nargs hello a b c “d e f” 'x y z'

argv = 7

3) Executing the following command from the bash shell will output the following...

$ nargs $(while read line; do printf “$line “; done < f)

argv = 11


What is going on here? I know the shell is performing some kind of translation regarding the quotes, but why the inconsistency? In #1, the quotes are present in the output. In #2, I've physically typed the quotes, just like they've appeared in #1. In #3, the quotes are obviously gone since the C++ program received 11 arguments, vice 7 in #2.

I've also tried using backslashes between the spaces instead of quotes. This doesn't work either. Is there a way to get around this problem? I haven't run across any shell settings to solve this.