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    Where is this documented? Commented Aug 16, 2016 at 20:30
  • Hmm, not sure where this is documented, but the return code from a variable assignment is the return code of the evaluation of the right hand side. That's why x=$(Nosuchcommand) returns an exit code of 127 because that's the standard "command not found" exit code. Commented Aug 16, 2016 at 20:36
  • man bash and search for EXIT STATUS. Is this the location that is being sought? Commented Aug 16, 2016 at 20:43
  • @TimothyMartin Not sure ... the man page talks about "commands" and "built-in commands", but that's where I'm confused. I never would have thought setting a variable was a "command" (although something like $(command) is obviously a command). Commented Aug 17, 2016 at 12:14
  • It's not entirely accurate, but I like to think of an assignment statement as a pre-command assignment that just happens to precede a null command that behaves like :. The assignments affect the current shell just like redirections on exec with no arguments affect the current shell. Commented Aug 17, 2016 at 17:12