[bash] Which characters need to be escaped when using Bash?

format that can be reused as shell input

Edit february 2021: bash ${var@Q}

Under bash, you could store your variable content with Parameter Expansion's @ command for Parameter transformation:

${parameter@operator}
       Parameter transformation.  The expansion is either a transforma-
       tion of the value of parameter or  information  about  parameter
       itself,  depending on the value of operator.  Each operator is a
       single letter:

       Q      The expansion is a string that is the value of  parameter
              quoted in a format that can be reused as input.
...
       A      The  expansion  is  a string in the form of an assignment
              statement or declare command  that,  if  evaluated,  will
              recreate parameter with its attributes and value.

Sample:

$ var=$'Hello\nGood world.\n'
$ echo "$var"
Hello
Good world.

$ echo "${var@Q}"
$'Hello\nGood world.\n'

$ echo "${var@A}"
var=$'Hello\nGood world.\n'

Old answer

There is a special printf format directive (%q) built for this kind of request:

printf [-v var] format [arguments]

 %q     causes printf to output the corresponding argument
        in a format that can be reused as shell input.

Some samples:

read foo
Hello world
printf "%q\n" "$foo"
Hello\ world

printf "%q\n" $'Hello world!\n'
$'Hello world!\n'

This could be used through variables too:

printf -v var "%q" "$foo
"
echo "$var"
$'Hello world\n'

Quick check with all (128) ascii bytes:

Note that all bytes from 128 to 255 have to be escaped.

for i in {0..127} ;do
    printf -v var \\%o $i
    printf -v var $var
    printf -v res "%q" "$var"
    esc=E
    [ "$var" = "$res" ] && esc=-
    printf "%02X %s %-7s\n" $i $esc "$res"
done |
    column

This must render something like:

00 E ''         1A E $'\032'    34 - 4          4E - N          68 - h      
01 E $'\001'    1B E $'\E'      35 - 5          4F - O          69 - i      
02 E $'\002'    1C E $'\034'    36 - 6          50 - P          6A - j      
03 E $'\003'    1D E $'\035'    37 - 7          51 - Q          6B - k      
04 E $'\004'    1E E $'\036'    38 - 8          52 - R          6C - l      
05 E $'\005'    1F E $'\037'    39 - 9          53 - S          6D - m      
06 E $'\006'    20 E \          3A - :          54 - T          6E - n      
07 E $'\a'      21 E \!         3B E \;         55 - U          6F - o      
08 E $'\b'      22 E \"         3C E \<         56 - V          70 - p      
09 E $'\t'      23 E \#         3D - =          57 - W          71 - q      
0A E $'\n'      24 E \$         3E E \>         58 - X          72 - r      
0B E $'\v'      25 - %          3F E \?         59 - Y          73 - s      
0C E $'\f'      26 E \&         40 - @          5A - Z          74 - t      
0D E $'\r'      27 E \'         41 - A          5B E \[         75 - u      
0E E $'\016'    28 E \(         42 - B          5C E \\         76 - v      
0F E $'\017'    29 E \)         43 - C          5D E \]         77 - w      
10 E $'\020'    2A E \*         44 - D          5E E \^         78 - x      
11 E $'\021'    2B - +          45 - E          5F - _          79 - y      
12 E $'\022'    2C E \,         46 - F          60 E \`         7A - z      
13 E $'\023'    2D - -          47 - G          61 - a          7B E \{     
14 E $'\024'    2E - .          48 - H          62 - b          7C E \|     
15 E $'\025'    2F - /          49 - I          63 - c          7D E \}     
16 E $'\026'    30 - 0          4A - J          64 - d          7E E \~     
17 E $'\027'    31 - 1          4B - K          65 - e          7F E $'\177'
18 E $'\030'    32 - 2          4C - L          66 - f      
19 E $'\031'    33 - 3          4D - M          67 - g      

Where first field is hexa value of byte, second contain E if character need to be escaped and third field show escaped presentation of character.

Why ,?

You could see some characters that don't always need to be escaped, like ,, } and {.

So not always but sometime:

echo test 1, 2, 3 and 4,5.
test 1, 2, 3 and 4,5.

or

echo test { 1, 2, 3 }
test { 1, 2, 3 }

but care:

echo test{1,2,3}
test1 test2 test3

echo test\ {1,2,3}
test 1 test 2 test 3

echo test\ {\ 1,\ 2,\ 3\ }
test  1 test  2 test  3

echo test\ {\ 1\,\ 2,\ 3\ }
test  1, 2 test  3