How can I retain whitespace in Korn Shell (script) when using backticks?
I'm working on a script in Korn Shell.  My database connection is through SQLPLUS to an Oracle 9i database.  I haven't had any problems getting DB values into shell variables, EXCEPT that any consecutive whitespace is automatically truncated to only one character.  Here's an example of my code:

    MY_VAR=`sqlplus -s usr/pass@db << !
    set heading off;
    set pagesize 0;

    select a_value from a_table where an_index = 25;
    !`

The actual data in the database is like this:
 
    Dec 15 09:19:10 <24:0070> User record (5    XATY       41839FG8   58775HK9AFF) is invalid for this condition

My code example above returns it like this:

    Dec 15 09:19:10 <24:0070> User record (5 XATY 41839FG8 58775HK9AFF) is invalid for this condition

The spacing is critical for what I'm working with.  Thank you in advance for your help.
How can I retain whitespace in Korn Shell (script) when using backticks?
===

I'm working on a script in Korn Shell.  My database connection is through SQLPLUS to an Oracle 9i database.  I haven't had any problems getting DB values into shell variables, EXCEPT that any consecutive whitespace is automatically truncated to only one character.  Here's an example of my code:

    MY_VAR=`sqlplus -s usr/pass@db << !
    set heading off;
    set pagesize 0;

    select a_value from a_table where an_index = 25;
    !`

The actual data in the database is like this:
 
    Dec 15 09:19:10 <24:0070> User record (5    XATY       41839FG8   58775HK9AFF) is invalid for this condition

My code example above returns it like this:

    Dec 15 09:19:10 <24:0070> User record (5 XATY 41839FG8 58775HK9AFF) is invalid for this condition

The spacing is critical for what I'm working with.  Thank you in advance for your help.