bash: $'\302\211[COMMAND]': command not found

Question

I've used bash in xterm on Debian Jessie for about 2 years. Just recently I sometimes get an error bash: $'\302\211[COMMAND]': command not found.

The only help I can find on the topic is Piping grep causes error $'\302\240grep': command not found on linux and Why do I sometimes get sh: $'\302\211 … ': command not found in xterm/sh?. This sometimes happens when I type tab for command completion. Is there any way I can get rid of this without switching terminal emulators?

Solution

This is the same problem as Why do I sometimes get 'sh: $'\302\211 … ': command not found' in xterm/sh? (but not a duplicate — yet — because there was no suitable answer).

Summarizing from my answer: you see this behavior because occasionally you press metatab rather than just tab, which makes xterm send a different character.

Comments

[Thalys]

When you find an exact duplicate, please flag or vote to close as such, rather than posting the same answer in both places. It would also be nice if you would explain how this fixes the issue.

[David Scott]

Also, it doesn't: bash: $'\302\203\302\226\302\226setxkbmap': command not found