echo command

echo - display a line of text.

Usage: echo [OPTION]... [STRING]...

• OPTION: Flags which enhances the echo abilities.
• STRING: Text you want to display (optional; outputs a blank line if omitted).

Examples

• Displaying text

  The most basic use of echo is to print text to the terminal.

  $ echo
  
  $ echo "Hello, world!"
  Hello, world!
  • Without arguments outputs a single newline (blank line).

• Writing to a file

  Redirect echo output to a file using > (overwrite) or >> (append).

  $ echo "New content" > myfile.txt
  • Creates or overwrites myfile.txt with "New content".

  $ echo "More content" >> myfile.txt
  • Adds "More content" to the end of myfile.txt.

• Using variables

  echo can display the value of shell variables

  $ NAME="Alice"
  $ echo "Hello, $NAME!"
  Hello, Alice!
  • Using curly braces would be ideal for better readability when variables are part of larger text.

  $ echo "Hello, Mr. ${NAME}!"
  Hello, Mr. Alice!

• Handling newlines

  By default, echo adds a newline after the text. Use -n to suppress it.

  $ echo -n "No newline here" && echo "Next part"
  No newline hereNext part
  $ echo "No newline here" && echo "Next part"
  No newline here
  Next part

• Interpreting escape sequences

  Use -e to enable interpretation of escape characters (like \n for newline or \t for tab).

  $ echo "Line 1\nLine 2"
  Line 1\nLine 2
  $ echo -e "Line 1\nLine 2\tTabbed"
  Line 1
  Line 2  Tabbed

  Common escape sequences:

  • \n: Newline
  • \t: Tab
  • \b: Backspace
  • \\: Literal backslash

• Suppressing escape sequences

  Use -E (default in most shells) to disable escape interpretation explicitly.

  $ echo -E "Text with \n no newline"
  Text with \n no newline