After I filed this I got the bright idea to try exporting to Github Flavored Markdown and ASCII text. In all cases, src_c{*foo} was exported as ",*foo". So this has something to do with export C code or code in general. It could still be a backend issue if these backends share code.
----------------------- On Mon, Apr 12 2021, Dave Marquardt wrote: Remember to cover the basics, that is, what you expected to happen and what in fact did happen. You don't know how to make a good report? See https://orgmode.org/manual/Feedback.html#Feedback Your bug report will be posted to the Org mailing list. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Exporting this small file to HTML #+PROPERTY: header-args :exports code Set src_c{*foo} to 1. yields, after all the prolog CSS, <body> <div id="content"> <p> Set <code class="src src-c">,*foo</code> to 1. </p> </div> </body> Note the comma (,) before "*foo". I dig "git bisect" on the source tree, running "make" then "make vanilla" then exporting for each release tag from release_9.4 back to release_8.3. The comma persisted. I gave up when I built release_8.2 but the "vanilla" make target no longer existed. Emacs : GNU Emacs 27.2 (build 1, x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.24.27, cairo version 1.16.0) of 2021-03-27 Package: Org mode version 9.4 (9.4-31-g49f4c3-elpa @ /home/davemarq/.emacs.d/elpa/org-20201109/) current state: ============== (setq org-duration-format 'h:mm org-src-mode-hook '(org-src-babel-configure-edit-buffer org-src-mode-configure-edit-buffer) org-latex-listings t org-link-shell-confirm-function 'yes-or-no-p org-metadown-hook '(org-babel-pop-to-session-maybe) org-clock-out-hook '(org-clock-remove-empty-clock-drawer) org-html-format-inlinetask-function 'org-html-format-inlinetask-default-function org-enforce-todo-dependencies t org-odt-format-headline-function 'org-odt-format-headline-default-function org-latex-pdf-process '("pdflatex -shell-escape -interaction nonstopmode -output-directory %o %f" "pdflatex -shell-escape -interaction nonstopmode -output-directory %o %f" "pdflatex -shell-escape -interaction nonstopmode -output-directory %o %f") org-agenda-files '("~/org/aix.org" "~/org/ibm.org" "~/pers/personal.org") org-ascii-format-inlinetask-function 'org-ascii-format-inlinetask-default org-modules '(ol-bbdb ol-bibtex ol-docview ol-eww ol-gnus ol-info ol-irc ol-mhe ol-rmail ol-w3m) org-blocker-hook '(org-block-todo-from-children-or-siblings-or-parent) org-mode-hook '(#[0 "\301\211\207" [imenu-create-index-function org-imenu-get-tree] 2] #[0 "\300\301\302\303\304$\207" [add-hook change-major-mode-hook org-show-all append local] 5] #[0 "\300\301\302\303\304$\207" [add-hook change-major-mode-hook org-babel-show-result-all append local] 5] org-babel-result-hide-spec org-babel-hide-all-hashes) org-odt-format-drawer-function #[514 "\207" [] 3 "\n\n(fn NAME CONTENTS)"] org-archive-hook '(org-attach-archive-delete-maybe) org-confirm-elisp-link-function 'yes-or-no-p org-mime-src-mode-hook '(org-mime-src-mode-configure-edit-buffer) org-agenda-before-write-hook '(org-agenda-add-entry-text) org-metaup-hook '(org-babel-load-in-session-maybe) org-bibtex-headline-format-function #[257 "\300\236A\207" [:title] 3 "\n\n(fn ENTRY)"] org-latex-format-drawer-function #[514 "\207" [] 3 "\n\n(fn _ CONTENTS)"] org-babel-pre-tangle-hook '(save-buffer) org-tab-first-hook '(org-babel-hide-result-toggle-maybe org-babel-header-arg-expand) org-babel-load-languages '((emacs-lisp . t) (gnuplot . t) (ditaa . t) (dot . t) (mscgen . t)) org-clock-clocktable-default-properties '(:maxlevel 2 :scope file :formula %) org-export-backends '(org odt icalendar gfm md html beamer latex ascii) org-ascii-format-drawer-function #[771 "\207" [] 4 "\n\n(fn NAME CONTENTS WIDTH)"] org-agenda-loop-over-headlines-in-active-region nil org-icalendar-include-todo t org-occur-hook '(org-first-headline-recenter) org-log-into-drawer t org-agenda-include-diary t org-cycle-hook '(org-cycle-hide-archived-subtrees org-cycle-hide-drawers org-cycle-show-empty-lines org-optimize-window-after-visibility-change) org-todo-keywords '((sequence "TODO(t)" "WAIT(w@)" "|" "DONE(d)" "CANCELED(c@)")) org-speed-command-hook '(org-speed-command-activate org-babel-speed-command-activate) org-odt-format-inlinetask-function 'org-odt-format-inlinetask-default-function org-export-before-parsing-hook '(org-attach-expand-links) org-confirm-shell-link-function 'yes-or-no-p org-link-parameters '(("attachment" :follow org-attach-follow :complete org-attach-complete-link) ("id" :follow org-id-open) ("w3m" :store org-w3m-store-link) ("rmail" :follow org-rmail-open :store org-rmail-store-link) ("mhe" :follow org-mhe-open :store org-mhe-store-link) ("irc" :follow org-irc-visit :store org-irc-store-link :export org-irc-export) ("info" :follow org-info-open :export org-info-export :store org-info-store-link) ("gnus" :follow org-gnus-open :store org-gnus-store-link) ("eww" :follow org-eww-open :store org-eww-store-link) ("docview" :follow org-docview-open :export org-docview-export :store org-docview-store-link) ("bibtex" :follow org-bibtex-open :store org-bibtex-store-link) ("bbdb" :follow org-bbdb-open :export org-bbdb-export :complete org-bbdb-complete-link :store org-bbdb-store-link) ("elfeed" :follow elfeed-link-open :store elfeed-link-store-link) ("file+sys") ("file+emacs") ("shell" :follow org-link--open-shell) ("news" :follow #[514 "\301\300\302Q\"\207" ["news" browse-url ":"] 6 "\n\n(fn URL ARG)"]) ("mailto" :follow #[514 "\301\300\302Q\"\207" ["mailto" browse-url ":"] 6 "\n\n(fn URL ARG)"]) ("https" :follow #[514 "\301\300\302Q\"\207" ["https" browse-url ":"] 6 "\n\n(fn URL ARG)"]) ("http" :follow #[514 "\301\300\302Q\"\207" ["http" browse-url ":"] 6 "\n\n(fn URL ARG)"]) ("ftp" :follow #[514 "\301\300\302Q\"\207" ["ftp" browse-url ":"] 6 "\n\n(fn URL ARG)"]) ("help" :follow org-link--open-help) ("file" :complete org-link-complete-file) ("elisp" :follow org-link--open-elisp) ("doi" :follow org-link--open-doi)) org-src-block-faces '(("emacs-lisp" (:background "#F0FFF0"))) org-html-postamble nil org-latex-format-headline-function 'org-latex-format-headline-default-function org-link-elisp-confirm-function 'yes-or-no-p org-latex-format-inlinetask-function 'org-latex-format-inlinetask-default-function org-html-format-drawer-function #[514 "\207" [] 3 "\n\n(fn NAME CONTENTS)"] org-latex-packages-alist '(("" "listings" nil) ("" "color" nil)) outline-minor-mode-prefix "\243" org-latex-classes '(("beamer" "\\documentclass[presentation]{beamer}" ("\\section{%s}" . "\\section*{%s}") ("\\subsection{%s}" . "\\subsection*{%s}") ("\\subsubsection{%s}" . "\\subsubsection*{%s}")) ("article" "\\documentclass[11pt]{article}" ("\\section{%s}" . "\\section*{%s}") ("\\subsection{%s}" . "\\subsection*{%s}") ("\\subsubsection{%s}" . "\\subsubsection*{%s}") ("\\paragraph{%s}" . "\\paragraph*{%s}") ("\\subparagraph{%s}" . "\\subparagraph*{%s}")) ("report" "\\documentclass[11pt]{report}" ("\\part{%s}" . "\\part*{%s}") ("\\chapter{%s}" . "\\chapter*{%s}") ("\\section{%s}" . "\\section*{%s}") ("\\subsection{%s}" . "\\subsection*{%s}") ("\\subsubsection{%s}" . "\\subsubsection*{%s}")) ("book" "\\documentclass[11pt]{book}" ("\\part{%s}" . "\\part*{%s}") ("\\chapter{%s}" . "\\chapter*{%s}") ("\\section{%s}" . "\\section*{%s}") ("\\subsection{%s}" . "\\subsection*{%s}") ("\\subsubsection{%s}" . "\\subsubsection*{%s}")) ) org-html-format-headline-function 'org-html-format-headline-default-function org-icalendar-alarm-time 10 org-mime-preserve-breaks nil org-link-from-user-regexp "\\<davemarq@b\\>\\|\\<Dave Marquardt\\>" org-ascii-text-width 188 )