process the output of $() with files with spaces

[Enda]

Say I type:

$ echo cat $(ls -Qv *.pdf)

cat "file 1.pdf" "file 2.pdf"

The output above is what I want to execute. However the following command fails.

$ cat $(ls -Qv *.pdf)

cat: "file: No such file or directory
cat: 1.pdf": No such file or directory
cat: "file: No such file or directory
cat: 2.pdf": No such file or directory

The output here is also what I want but fails without the echo:

echo cat $(ls --quoting-style=escape -v *.pdf)

How do I get around this problem?


Many thanks,

Enda