echo

display text output

TLDR

Print text

$ echo "[Hello World]"

Print without trailing newline

$ echo -n "[text]"

Interpret escape sequences

$ echo -e "[Line 1\nLine 2]"

Print an environment variable

$ echo $[PATH]

Write text to a file

$ echo "[content]" > [file.txt]

Append text to a file

$ echo "[more content]" >> [file.txt]

echo displays a line of text to standard output. It's one of the most basic and frequently used commands, essential for scripts, logging, and displaying information to users.The command exists as both a shell built-in and standalone program.

PARAMETERS

-n

Don't output trailing newline

-e

Enable interpretation of backslash escapes

-E

Disable interpretation of backslash escapes (default)

ESCAPE SEQUENCES

(With -e flag):\n - Newline\t - Tab\r - Carriage return\a - Alert (bell)\b - Backspace\\\\ - Backslash\\" - Double quote\xHH - Hexadecimal byte\0NNN - Octal byte

CAVEATS

Behavior differs between shells and between the shell built-in and `/bin/echo`. The -e flag is not POSIX and is not supported by all implementations. For portable scripts, prefer printf which has consistent behavior across platforms. Most shells (bash, zsh, dash) provide echo as a built-in that may behave differently from the external binary.

HISTORY

echo has been part of Unix since Version 2 in 1972, though its behavior has varied across different Unix variants.