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Syntax

echo [OPTIONS] [STRING...]

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Description

The echo command writes its arguments to standard output, separated by spaces and followed by a newline. It’s one of the most fundamental commands for displaying text, debugging scripts, and creating simple output. Unlike system shells, Nash’s echo runs entirely in-memory with no external process calls.

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Options

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-n
flag
Suppress the trailing newline. Output ends immediately after the last argument.
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-e
flag
Enable interpretation of backslash escape sequences:
  • \n - newline
  • \t - horizontal tab
  • \r - carriage return
  • \\ - backslash

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Examples

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Basic output

echo Hello, World!

Hello, World!

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Multiple arguments

echo one two three

one two three

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Suppress trailing newline

echo -n "Loading"
echo "..."

Loading...

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Using escape sequences

echo -e "Line 1\nLine 2\nLine 3"

Line 1
Line 2
Line 3

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Tab-separated values

echo -e "Name\tAge\tCity"
echo -e "Alice\t30\tNew York"

Name    Age     City
Alice   30      New York

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Variable expansion

echo "Current user: $USER"
echo "Home directory: $HOME"

Current user: user
Home directory: /home/user

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Pipeline Examples

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Create content for grep

echo -e "apple\nbanana\napricot" | grep ap

apple
apricot

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Generate test data

echo "hello world" | wc -w

       2

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Write to file

echo "Configuration data" > config.txt
cat config.txt

Configuration data

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Append to file

echo "Line 1" > file.txt
echo "Line 2" >> file.txt
cat file.txt

Line 1
Line 2

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Practical Use Cases

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Script debugging

echo "Starting deployment..."
cp src/* dist/
echo "Deployment complete!"

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Creating CSV data

echo "id,name,value" > data.csv
echo "1,Item A,100" >> data.csv
echo "2,Item B,200" >> data.csv

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Status messages

test -f config.json && echo "Config found" || echo "Config missing"

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Environment inspection

echo "PATH: $PATH"
echo "Working directory: $(pwd)"
  • cat - Display file contents
  • wc - Count lines, words, and bytes
Nash’s echo automatically expands variables like $VAR and command substitutions like $(cmd). Use single quotes to prevent expansion: echo '$HOME' outputs the literal text $HOME.

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