ECHO(1B) BSD Compatibility Package Commands ECHO(1B)

NAME

echo - echo arguments to standard output

SYNOPSIS

/usr/ucb/echo [-n] [argument]

DESCRIPTION

echo writes its arguments, separated by BLANKs and terminated by a
NEWLINE, to the standard output.


echo is useful for producing diagnostics in command files and for
sending known data into a pipe, and for displaying the contents of
environment variables.


For example, you can use echo to determine how many subdirectories
below the root directory (/) is your current directory, as follows:

o echo your current-working-directory's full pathname

o pipe the output through tr to translate the path's
embedded slash-characters into space-characters

o pipe that output through wc -w for a count of the names in
your path.

example% /usr/bin/echo "echo $PWD | tr '/' ' ' | wc -w"


See tr(1) and wc(1) for their functionality.


The shells csh(1), ksh(1), and sh(1), each have an echo built-in
command, which, by default, will have precedence, and will be invoked
if the user calls echo without a full pathname. /usr/ucb/echo and
csh's echo() have an -n option, but do not understand back-slashed
escape characters. sh's echo(), ksh's echo(), and /usr/bin/echo, on
the other hand, understand the black-slashed escape characters, and
ksh's echo() also understands \a as the audible bell character;
however, these commands do not have an -n option.

OPTIONS

-n
Do not add the NEWLINE to the output.

SEE ALSO

csh(1), echo(1), ksh(1), sh(1), tr(1), wc(1), attributes(7)

NOTES

The -n option is a transition aid for BSD applications, and may not
be supported in future releases.

August 3, 1994 ECHO(1B)