topic Re: echo with NO new line option in Operating System - Linux

echo with NO new line option

Emanuele_4 — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 17:38:30 GMT

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

Re: echo with NO new line option

Bill Hassell — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 18:55:32 GMT

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

Re: echo with NO new line option

Nitin Kumar Gupta — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 00:05:12 GMT

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

Re: echo with NO new line option

Nitin Kumar Gupta — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 00:05:26 GMT

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

Re: echo with NO new line option

Peter Nikitka — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 08:09:57 GMT

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

Re: echo with NO new line option

Steven Schweda — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 18:17:23 GMT

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.

Re: echo with NO new line option

Dennis Handly — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 05:33:52 GMT

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.

Re: echo with NO new line option

Emanuele_4 — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 11:22:57 GMT

proble resolved with the \c option.

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

Thanks to everybody

Emanuele