xref: /freebsd/bin/echo/echo.1 (revision b740c88bfb6453416926271c089262e7164dace3)
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32.\"	@(#)echo.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 7/22/93
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd November 12, 2010
36.Dt ECHO 1
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm echo
40.Nd write arguments to the standard output
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm
43.Op Fl n
44.Op Ar string ...
45.Sh DESCRIPTION
46The
47.Nm
48utility writes any specified operands, separated by single blank
49.Pq Ql "\ "
50characters and followed by a newline
51.Pq Ql \en
52character, to the standard
53output.
54.Pp
55The following option is available:
56.Bl -tag -width flag
57.It Fl n
58Do not print the trailing newline character.
59.El
60.Pp
61The end-of-options marker
62.Fl Fl
63is not recognized and written literally.
64.Pp
65The newline may also be suppressed by appending
66.Ql \ec
67to the end of the string, as is done
68by iBCS2 compatible systems.
69Note that the
70.Fl n
71option as well as the effect of
72.Ql \ec
73are implementation-defined in
74.St -p1003.1-2001
75as amended by Cor.\& 1-2002.
76For portability,
77.Nm
78should only be used if the first argument does not start with a hyphen
79.Pq Ql "-"
80and does not contain any backslashes
81.Pq Ql "\e" .
82If this is not sufficient,
83.Xr printf 1
84should be used.
85.Pp
86Most shells provide a builtin
87.Nm
88command which tends to differ from this utility
89in the treatment of options and backslashes.
90Consult the
91.Xr builtin 1
92manual page.
93.Sh EXIT STATUS
94.Ex -std
95.Sh SEE ALSO
96.Xr builtin 1 ,
97.Xr csh 1 ,
98.Xr printf 1 ,
99.Xr sh 1
100.Sh STANDARDS
101The
102.Nm
103utility conforms to
104.St -p1003.1-2001
105as amended by Cor.\& 1-2002.
106