Trailing newlines disappear

[PePa]

I would think this is a bug:

4.3.48(1)-release> printf "q\n\n\n" >w
4.3.48(1)-release> cat w
q


4.3.48(1)-release> printf "$(cat w)"
q
4.3.48(1)-release>

Is there some workaround to somehow preserve the trailing newlines?

Peter