topic echo question in Operating System - HP-UX

echo question

Anthony khan — Wed, 16 Jul 2003 14:47:57 GMT

Hi Guys,

I am using echo "\a\nancy\file" but the echo output I get is following..

echo "\a\nancy\file"

ancy
ile

Because \ is a speacial charactor for new line, any idea how to solve this, I want the output of echo would be same as \a\nancy\file.

Thanks in advance

Anthony

Re: echo question

Ian Dennison_1 — Wed, 16 Jul 2003 14:49:49 GMT

\n is a special code for the printf command, not the echo command. That's why it does not work.

man printf

Share and Enjoy! Ian

Re: echo question

James R. Ferguson — Wed, 16 Jul 2003 14:54:02 GMT

Hi Anthony:

# echo '\\a\\nancy\\file'

Regards!

...JRF...

Re: echo question

John Meissner — Wed, 16 Jul 2003 14:58:12 GMT

try

echo '\\a\\nancy\\file'

works for me. you need to excape the \a the \n and the \f
the escape character is \

Re: echo question

Darren Prior — Wed, 16 Jul 2003 15:02:37 GMT

Hi,

You'll need to escape the backslashes with a backslash, ie:

echo "\\a\\nancy\\file"

You may want to use something like sed to automate this if you've got a lot of these to change ;)

regards,

Darren.

Re: echo question

curt larson_1 — Wed, 16 Jul 2003 15:13:11 GMT

looks like my first reply never made it, so I'll try again

you really should be using the "print" command as echo is obsolete. echo and print formats several escape conventions including:
\a bell character
\n newline
\f formfeed
and
\\ backslash

with the echo command your stuck with using \\ for a backslash. with the print command you can also use the -R and -r switches which do not use the \ conventions.

and if your shell has a printf command you can also use or not use the \ conventions depending on your conversion specification (%s or %b).

Re: echo question

James R. Ferguson — Wed, 16 Jul 2003 15:24:21 GMT

Hi (again) Anthony:

Curt's suggestion to use the 'print -R' syntax is the most direct answer to your problem. This is documented in the man pages for 'sh-posix'.

Regards!

...JRF...

Re: echo question

Anthony khan — Wed, 16 Jul 2003 15:57:18 GMT

Its working now only thing is left is using sed to change \a\nancy\file to \\a\\nancy\file, can anyone help...

Thanks

Re: echo question

Michael Kelly_5 — Wed, 16 Jul 2003 16:06:55 GMT

cat mjk-test
\a\nancy\file

cat mjk-test | sed -e 's/\\/\\\\/g'
\\a\\nancy\\file

HTH,
Michael.

Re: echo question

Michael Kelly_5 — Wed, 16 Jul 2003 16:11:37 GMT

or even this if you really want only one \ before the f.

cat mjk-test | sed -e 's/\\a/\\\\a/' -e 's/\\n/\\\\n/'

HTH,
Michael.

Re: echo question

curt larson_1 — Wed, 16 Jul 2003 16:26:13 GMT

a="\a\nancy\file"

echo $(print -r $a | sed 's|\\|\\\\|g')
# this will work just as well (actually better)

print -r $a

#if you're using the korn shell you can also do

printf "%s" $a