In reply to stefaniecg:
This worked for me in Questa
module top;
parameter int c_data_width = 16;
var logic [c_data_width-1:0] a;
var logic [c_data_width-1:0] a_z [2:0];
initial a_z <= {a_z[1:0],a};
endmodule
So there must be something else wrong you are not showing.
Putting the ’ infront making it become an assignment pattern is wrong, you need 3 items in the pattern.