quibble() { # Here awk(1) is easier than sed(1). awk 'BEGIN { for (i = 1; i < ARGC - 2; i++) s = s ARGV[i] ", " i = ARGC - 2; if (i > 0) s = s ARGV[i] " and " i = ARGC - 1; if (i > 0) s = s ARGV[i] printf "{%s}\n", s exit 0 }' "$@" } quibble quibble ABC quibble ABC DEF quibble ABC DEF G H