This is only a problem if IFS contains digits, which is unusual but valid.
Because of an incorrect fix for PR bin/12137, "${#parameter}" was treated
as ${#parameter}. The underlying problem was that "${#parameter}"
erroneously added CTLESC bytes before determining the length. This
was properly fixed for PR bin/56147 but the incorrect fix was not backed
out.
Reported by: Seeker on forums.freebsd.org
MFC after: 2 weeks