How to escape wildcard expansion in a variable in bash?

Question

How do I escape a wildcard expansion in a variable name?

CP="lib/*"
COMMAND="java $VARIABLES -cp $CP SomeClass"
echo $COMMAND

Echoing the command always causes wildcard expansion.

Answer 1

echo "$COMMAND"

Using quotes prevents the glob from being expanded.

By the way, see "I'm trying to put a command in a variable, but the complex cases always fail!"

Answer 2

"I'm trying to put a command in a variable, but the complex cases always fail!"

Use an array instead.