xref: /freebsd/bin/echo/echo.1 (revision fed1ca4b719c56c930f2259d80663cd34be812bb)
1.\"-
2.\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1993
3.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
4.\"
5.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
6.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
7.\"
8.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
9.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
10.\" are met:
11.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
12.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
13.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
14.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
15.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
16.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
17.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
18.\"    without specific prior written permission.
19.\"
20.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
21.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
22.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
23.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
24.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
25.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
26.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
27.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
28.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
29.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
30.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
31.\"
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