xref: /freebsd/bin/echo/echo.1 (revision 2008043f386721d58158e37e0d7e50df8095942d)
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32.\"	@(#)echo.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 7/22/93
33.\"
34.Dd October 5, 2016
35.Dt ECHO 1
36.Os
37.Sh NAME
38.Nm echo
39.Nd write arguments to the standard output
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.Nm
42.Op Fl n
43.Op Ar string ...
44.Sh DESCRIPTION
45The
46.Nm
47utility writes any specified operands, separated by single blank
48.Pq Ql "\ "
49characters and followed by a newline
50.Pq Ql \en
51character, to the standard
52output.
53.Pp
54The following option is available:
55.Bl -tag -width flag
56.It Fl n
57Do not print the trailing newline character.
58.El
59.Pp
60The end-of-options marker
61.Fl Fl
62is not recognized and written literally.
63.Pp
64The newline may also be suppressed by appending
65.Ql \ec
66to the end of the string, as is done
67by iBCS2 compatible systems.
68Note that the
69.Fl n
70option as well as the effect of
71.Ql \ec
72are implementation-defined in
73.St -p1003.1-2001
74as amended by Cor.\& 1-2002.
75For portability,
76.Nm
77should only be used if the first argument does not start with a hyphen
78.Pq Ql "-"
79and does not contain any backslashes
80.Pq Ql "\e" .
81If this is not sufficient,
82.Xr printf 1
83should be used.
84.Pp
85Most shells provide a builtin
86.Nm
87command which tends to differ from this utility
88in the treatment of options and backslashes.
89Consult the
90.Xr builtin 1
91manual page.
92.Sh EXIT STATUS
93.Ex -std
94.Sh SEE ALSO
95.Xr builtin 1 ,
96.Xr csh 1 ,
97.Xr printf 1 ,
98.Xr sh 1
99.Sh STANDARDS
100The
101.Nm
102utility conforms to
103.St -p1003.1-2001
104as amended by Cor.\& 1-2002.
105.Sh HISTORY
106The
107.Nm
108command appeared in
109.At v2 .
110