Info Catalog coreutils: Printing text coreutils: printf invocation

coreutils: echo invocation

 
 15.1 ‘echo’: Print a line of text
 =================================
 
 ‘echo’ writes each given STRING to standard output, with a space between
 each and a newline after the last one.  Synopsis:
 
      echo [OPTION]... [STRING]...
 
    Due to shell aliases and built-in ‘echo’ functions, using an
 unadorned ‘echo’ interactively or in a script may get you different
 functionality than that described here.  Invoke it via ‘env’ (i.e., ‘env
 echo ...’) to avoid interference from the shell.
 
    The program accepts the following options.  Also see ⇒Common
 options.  Options must precede operands, and the normally-special
 argument ‘--’ has no special meaning and is treated like any other
 STRING.
 
 ‘-n’
      Do not output the trailing newline.
 
 ‘-e’
      Enable interpretation of the following backslash-escaped characters
      in each STRING:
 
      ‘\a’
           alert (bell)
      ‘\b’
           backspace
      ‘\c’
           produce no further output
      ‘\e’
           escape
      ‘\f’
           form feed
      ‘\n’
           newline
      ‘\r’
           carriage return
      ‘\t’
           horizontal tab
      ‘\v’
           vertical tab
      ‘\\’
           backslash
      ‘\0NNN’
           the eight-bit value that is the octal number NNN (zero to
           three octal digits), if NNN is a nine-bit value, the ninth bit
           is ignored
      ‘\NNN’
           the eight-bit value that is the octal number NNN (one to three
           octal digits), if NNN is a nine-bit value, the ninth bit is
           ignored
      ‘\xHH’
           the eight-bit value that is the hexadecimal number HH (one or
           two hexadecimal digits)
 
 ‘-E’
      Disable interpretation of backslash escapes in each STRING.  This
      is the default.  If ‘-e’ and ‘-E’ are both specified, the last one
      given takes effect.
 
    If the ‘POSIXLY_CORRECT’ environment variable is set, then when
 ‘echo’’s first argument is not ‘-n’ it outputs option-like arguments
 instead of treating them as options.  For example, ‘echo -ne hello’
 outputs ‘-ne hello’ instead of plain ‘hello’.  Also backslash escapes
 are always enabled.
 
    POSIX does not require support for any options, and says that the
 behavior of ‘echo’ is implementation-defined if any STRING contains a
 backslash or if the first argument is ‘-n’.  Portable programs can use
 the ‘printf’ command if they need to omit trailing newlines or output
 control characters or backslashes.  ⇒printf invocation.
 
    An exit status of zero indicates success, and a nonzero value
 indicates failure.
 

Info Catalog coreutils: Printing text coreutils: printf invocation