bash shell script concatenate string with period char

Question

I am trying to create following string

Beta-3.8.0

but shell script always omits the . period char no matter what I do.

echo "$readVersion"

if [ -z $readVersion ]
then
    echo "readVersion is empty"
    exit 1
fi;

IFS=.
set $readVersion
newVersion=$(echo "$2 + 1" | bc)
newBranch="Beta-$1.$newVersion.$3"
echo $newBranch

prints:
3.8.0
Beta-3 9 0

I have also tried

newBranch='Beta-'$1'.'$newVersion'.'$3
or
newBranch="Beta-{$1}.{$newVersion}.{$3}"

although this seems printing the right value echo "$1.$newVersion.$3" why not variable doesnt work ?

I need the variable to use later on in the script...

Answer 1

You can save and restore the IFS once you are done.

oldIFS=$IFS
IFS=.
set $readVersion
newVersion=$(echo "$2 + 1" | bc)
IFS=$oldIFS
newBranch="Beta-$1.$newVersion.$3"
echo "$newBranch"

Or you can quote when printing:

echo "$newBranch"

The former is a better idea IMO since it conveys your intention and would make the rest of the code use the "correct" IFS. The latter just circumvents the problem.