awk - Getting substring using ksh script -

i'm using ksh script determine delimiter in file using awk. know delimiter in 4 position on first line. issue i'm having character being used in delimiter in particular file * , instead of returning * in variable script returning file list. here sample text in file along script:

text in file:

xxx*xx*     *xx*xxxxxxx....... 

here kind of script looks (i don't have script in front of me jist):

delimiter=$(awk '{substr $0, 4, 1}' file.txt) echo ${delimiter} # lists files in directory..file.txt file1.txt file2.txt instead of * desired result 

thank in advance,
anthony

the shell interpreting content of delimiter variable. need quote avoid behaviour:

echo "${delimiter}" 

it print *