Index: trunk/Ohana/src/opihi/lib.shell/parse.c
===================================================================
--- trunk/Ohana/src/opihi/lib.shell/parse.c	(revision 30614)
+++ trunk/Ohana/src/opihi/lib.shell/parse.c	(revision 33662)
@@ -101,5 +101,9 @@
     V1 ++;
     while (isspace (*V1)) V1++;
-    if (*V1 == 0) goto error;
+    if (*V1 == 0) {
+      // assign empty vector
+      set_str_variable (V0, "");
+      goto escape;
+    }
 
     /* command replacement.  execute the line, place answer in val. */