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Justin
Asked: 2011-09-21 01:02:05 +0800 CST

Bash Script Echo -n

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I am writing a bash script, and I want to echo a string, but without a newline automatically added to the end. Reading the man page it says the flag is -n.

The problem is, when I do:

echo -n "My string is here"

The output in the bash script is:

-n My string is here

Any idea why the -n flag is being outputted instead of processed.

bash echo

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Check the shell you are using with:

    echo $0

    If it is /bin/sh, change to /bin/bash with chsh and try again.

    http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20071106192548833

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  2. Works on CentOS, but appears that OSX does not like the -n flag.

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  3. echo is weirdly inconsistent between versions -- different versions of /bin/echo, as well as the builtin versions in various shells (even different versions of the same shell). Some versions understand options (like -n), some versions understand escape sequences within the string (end with "\c" to skip the newline). Some versions use a weird mix of the two.

    If you want consistent behavior, avoid echo and use printf instead. It's a little more complicated, but it's much more predictable:

    printf "%s" "My string is here"
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