ECHO(1"March)

NAME
echo - produce message in a shell script

SYNOPSIS
echo [ -n | -e ] args...

COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1989 by Kenneth Almquist.

DESCRIPTION
Echo prints its arguments on the standard output, separated by spaces. Unless the -n option is present, a newline is output following the arguments. The -e option causes echo to treat the escape sequences specially, as described in the following paragraph. The -e option is the default, and is provided solely for compatibility with other systems. Only one of the options -n and -e may be given.

If any of the following sequences of characters is encountered during output, the sequence is not output. Instead, the specified action is performed:
A backspace character is output. Subsequent output is suppressed. This is normally used at the end of the last argument to suppress the trailing newline that echo would otherwise output. Output a form feed. Output a newline character. Output a carriage return. Output a (horizontal) tab character. Output a vertical tab. Output the character whose value is given by zero to three digits. If there are zero digits, a nul character is output. Output a backslash.

HINTS
Remember that backslash is special to the shell and needs to be escaped. To output a message to standard error, say

echo message >&2

BUGS
The octal character escape mechanism (\0digits) differs from the C language mechanism.

There is no way to force echo to treat its arguments literally, rather than interpreting them as options and escape sequences.