I tried to install homebrew (OSX 10.9.5) using the recommended
ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
but got
Illegal variable name.
I do have macports installed, so perhaps some commands do not what they are meant to?? But note that ruby is /usr/bin/ruby and curl is /usr/bin/curl.
How can I overcome this problem?