echo with NO new line option

[Emanuele_4]

Hi everybody!

I have an apparently simple question...but I don't resolve it anyway!

I want to make a simple script:

#!/sbin/sh
touch file.txt
echo -n "first line" >> file.txt
echo "second line" >> file.txt

this script write a file with 2 TWO lines...but I want to write a single line with two different echo command.

I know that echo -n doesn't write the new line at the end of the command but...it does!!
So...the -n option doesn't work...and even the \n option...so how can I write a single line?

Thanks in advance to anybody!

Emanuele

[Bill Hassell · Accepted solution]

Change the code from:

#!/sbin/sh
touch file.txt
echo -n "first line" >> file.txt
echo "second line" >> file.txt

to:

#!/sbin/sh
touch file.txt
echo "first line\c" >> file.txt
echo "second line" >> file.txt

[Nitin Kumar Gupta]

Hi

Hassel suggested very correct. Actually it is correct that you are using -n option, but this option is not working with all the unix environment.

Also if you want to feed extra line, you can use \n option.
Like

echo "Test \n"

Regards
Nitin

[Nitin Kumar Gupta]

Hi

Hassel suggested very correctly. Actually it is correct that you are using -n option, but this option is not working with all the unix environment.

Also if you want to feed extra line, you can use \n option.
Like

echo "Test \n"

Regards
Nitin

[Peter Nikitka]

Hi,

best is NOT to use 'echo' but the posix shell builting 'print' - this will work across all platforms:

print -n string1 string2

will NOT append a newline.

mfG Peter

[Steven Schweda]

Pre-Posix, one way to handle this problem
was to test "echo" to see how it works:

echo -n x | grep n > /dev/null

If "-n" works, the status is non-zero. If
"-n" does not work, it's zero.

td176> uname -a
HP-UX td176 B.11.23 U ia64 1928826293 unlimited-user license

td176> echo -n x
-n x
td176>

td176> echo -n x | grep n > /dev/null ; echo $?
0

urtx# sizer -v
Compaq Tru64 UNIX V5.1B (Rev. 2650); Thu Nov 23 02:10:08 CST 2006

urtx# echo -n x
xurtx#

urtx# echo -n x | grep n > /dev/null ; echo $?
1

When your script knows what works, it can
define an alias or a function to do whatever
works. (Years ago, I named mine "echn".) As
usual, there are many ways to solve a problem
like this.

[Dennis Handly]

As mentioned by everyone else, you are dependent on the scummy C shell. If you look at echo(1) it says that -n is only supported by the csh builtin and the Berkeley semantics.

A real POSIX shell or echo doesn't support -n.

[Emanuele_4]

proble resolved with the \c option.

I was wrong because I put the \c out of "".... :-)

Thanks to everybody

Emanuele