What is the output of the following command? for token in a b c; do echo -n $(token); done

anbcn implies the letter 'n' is inserted between values, but -n is a flag that suppresses newlines - it does not emit any characters of its own into the output stream.

The loop iterates over tokens a, b, and c, assigning each to the variable token in turn. The -n flag passed to echo suppresses the newline that would normally follow each printed value, so a, b, and c are printed back-to-back with no separators, producing 'abc'. The question intends $token as a variable reference; $(token) in the original attempts command substitution but the intended behavior and exam answer reflect $token usage.

$token$token$token would only appear if the literal string '$token' were echoed without variable expansion, which does not occur in standard bash with an unquoted or double-quoted reference.

(a)(b)(c) would require the echo command to explicitly wrap each value in parentheses, which nothing in the loop command does.

a b c with spaces would require a space separator between values, but echo with -n removes newlines and no separator is present, so the values concatenate directly without whitespace.