a

a

a

a

$ a=(printf "|%s|n" "foo   bar" "*")
$ echo ${a[@]}
printf |%s|n foo bar bin boot dev etc home lib lib64 lost+found mnt opt proc root run sbin srv sys tmp usr var

$ echo "${a[@]}"
printf |%s|n foo   bar *

$ "${a[@]}"
|foo   bar|
|*|

COMMAND=(/usr/bin/exiftool "$PATH_NAME")
"${COMMAND[@]}"

user@host:~$ do_something $some_variable

user@host:~$ do_something "$some_variable"

`echo $COMMAND`

COMMAND='ls /'
`echo $COMMAND`