Scroll to navigation

ECHO(1) User Commands ECHO(1)

NAME

echo - display a line of text

SYNOPSIS

echo [SHORT-OPTION]... [STRING]...
echo LONG-OPTION

DESCRIPTION

Echo the STRING(s) to standard output.

-n
do not output the trailing newline
-e
enable interpretation of backslash escapes
disable interpretation of backslash escapes (default)
display this help and exit
output version information and exit

If -e is in effect, the following sequences are recognized:

\\
backslash
alert (BEL)
backspace
produce no further output
escape
form feed
new line
carriage return
horizontal tab
vertical tab
\0NNN
byte with octal value NNN (1 to 3 digits)
byte with hexadecimal value HH (1 to 2 digits)

NOTE: your shell may have its own version of echo, which usually supersedes the version described here. Please refer to your shell's documentation for details about the options it supports.

NOTE: printf(1) is a preferred alternative, which does not have issues outputting option-like strings.

AUTHOR

Written by Brian Fox and Chet Ramey.

REPORTING BUGS

GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO

printf(1)

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/echo>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) echo invocation'

March 2024 GNU coreutils 9.4