What is the benefit of using $() instead of backticks in shell scripts?

Question

There are two ways to capture the output of command line in bash:

1. Legacy Bourne shell backticks ``:

   var=`command`
            
   
   
           

Answer 1

Suppose you want to find the lib directory corresponding to where gcc is installed. You have a choice:

libdir=$(dirname $(dirname $(which gcc)))/lib

libdir=`dirname \`dirname \\\`which gcc\\\`\``/lib

The first is easier than the second - use the first.