- t="${y#"${y%%[![:space:]]*}"}" # remove any initial spaces
- hardLinks="${t%%[[:space:]]*}" # remove everything beyond first word
- z=$(( ${#y} - ${#t} + ${#hardLinks} )) # length of hardlink string including padding
+ initial_space="${y%%[![:space:]]*}"
+ hardLinks="${y#$initial_space}" # remove any initial spaces
+ hardLinks="${hardLinks%%[[:space:]]*}" # remove everything beyond first word
+ hardLink_spacing=$(( ${#initial_space} + ${#hardLinks} )) # length of hardlink string including padding