bash sometimes outputs del character and sometimes not

[gmott]

Configuration Information [Automatically generated, do not change]:
Machine: i686
OS: linux-gnu
Compiler: gcc
Compilation CFLAGS:  -DPROGRAM='bash' -DCONF_HOSTTYPE='i686' 
-DCONF_OSTYPE='linux-gnu' -DCONF_MACHTYPE='i686-pc-linux-gnu' 
-DCONF_VENDOR='pc' -DSHELL -DHAVE_CONFIG_H  -D_GNU_SOURCE  -I.  -I. -I./include 
-I./lib -O2 -march=i386 -mcpu=i686
uname output: Linux ruby 2.4.18-27.7.x #1 Wed Mar 26 10:50:35 EST 2003 i686 
unknown
Machine Type: i686-pc-linux-gnu

Bash Version: 2.05a
Patch Level: 0
Release Status: release

Description:
        bash may or may not output the del character depending on whether 
adjacent characters are included within the same quotes

Repeat-By:
        #the following loop will generate the entire character set from \1 
through \377,
        #and output each character, first alone,
        #then followed/preceeded by an @ outside the quotes
        #then followed/preceeded by an @ inside the quotes
        #if you examine the od output you will find several del characters 
"missing",
        #apparently the ones where the @ was included within the quotes.
        for((a=1;a<256;a=a+1));do
           eval c=\$\'\\$(printf '%o' $a)\'
           printf %s "$c" "$c"@ @"$c"@ @"$c" "$c" "$c@" "@$c@" "@$c"
        done|od -t aco1z|less