ECHO(1) - General Commands Manual

ECHO(1) - General Commands Manual #

ECHO(1) - General Commands Manual

NAME #

echo - write arguments to the standard output

SYNOPSIS #

echo [-n] [string …]

DESCRIPTION #

The echo utility writes any specified operands, separated by single blank (’ ’) characters and followed by a newline (’\n’) character, to the standard output.

When no operands are given, only the newline is written. The -- operand, which generally denotes an end to option processing, is treated as part of string.

The options are as follows:

-n

Do not print the trailing newline character.

EXIT STATUS #

The echo utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

SEE ALSO #

csh(1), ksh(1), printf(1)

STANDARDS #

The echo utility is compliant with the IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (“POSIX.1”) specification.

The flag [-n] conflicts with the behaviour mandated by the X/Open System Interfaces option of the IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (“POSIX.1”) specification, which says it should be treated as part of string. Additionally, echo does not support any of the backslash character sequences mandated by XSI.

echo also exists as a built-in to csh(1) and ksh(1), though with a different syntax.

Where portability is paramount, use printf(1).

HISTORY #

An echo utility appeared in Version 2 AT&T UNIX.

OpenBSD 7.5 - March 16, 2018