Differences in bash scripts between $@ and $*

Which are the differences between $@ and $* ? For example I see no differences here:

#! /bin/bash
echo with star: $*
echo with at sign: $@

When they're not quoted, there is no difference between $@ and $*. Both are equal to $1 $2 … But don't do this.

With double quotes, "$@" expands each element as an argument:

"$1" "$2" …

while "$*" expands to all elements merged into one argument:

"$1c$2c..."

where c is the first character of IFS. If you unset IFS, c will be a space.

You almost always want "$@". The same goes for arrays: "${myarray[@]}"

@sputnick has the right answer. To demonstrate with an example:\

# use two positional parameters, each with whitespace
set -- "one two" "three four"

# demonstrate the various forms with the default $IFS
echo '$*:'
printf ">%s<\n" $*
echo '$@:'
printf ">%s<\n" $@
echo '"$*":'
printf ">%s<\n" "$*"
echo '"$@":'
printf ">%s<\n" "$@"

# now with a custom $IFS
(
IFS=:
echo '$*:'
printf ">%s<\n" $*
echo '$@:'
printf ">%s<\n" $@
echo '"$*":'
printf ">%s<\n" "$*"
echo '"$@":'
printf ">%s<\n" "$@"
)

outputs

$*:
>one<
>two<
>three<
>four<
$@:
>one<
>two<
>three<
>four<
"$*":
>one two three four<
"$@":
>one two<
>three four<
$*:
>one two<
>three four<
$@:
>one two<
>three four<
"$*":
>one two:three four<
"$@":
>one two<
>three four<