foo={1..9}
echo "$foo"

foo="/some/path/*"
echo "$foo"

foo=( {1..9} )
echo "${foo[@]}"

foo=(/some/path/*)
echo "${foo[@]}"

Note that either of these will trigger SC3030 ("In POSIX sh, array references are undefined") if you are using sh and not e.g. bash.

echo *.png {1..9} expands to all png files and numbers from 1 to 9, but var=*.png or var={1..9} will just assign the literal strings '*.png' and '{1..9}'.

To make the variable contain all png files or 1 through 9, use an array as demonstrated.

If you intended to assign these values as literals, quote them (e.g. var="*.png").

None.