title: Bash add characters before and after $foo
body: <p>So if I have </p>
  
  <pre><code>$foo = foo
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I would like to add <code>:</code> at the beginning and <code>!</code> at the end. I tried the below:</p>
  
  <pre><code>bar=$( ":" $foo "!" )
  </code></pre>