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ECHO(1P)		   POSIX Programmer's Manual		      ECHO(1P)

PROLOG
       This  manual  page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux
       implementation of this interface may differ (consult the	 corresponding
       Linux  manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may
       not be implemented on Linux.

NAME
       echo - write arguments to standard output

SYNOPSIS
       echo [string ...]

DESCRIPTION
       The echo utility writes its arguments to standard output, followed by a
       <newline>. If there are no arguments, only the <newline> is written.

OPTIONS
       The  echo  utility  shall not recognize the "--" argument in the manner
       specified  by  Guideline	 10  of	 the  Base   Definitions   volume   of
       IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,  Section  12.2,  Utility  Syntax Guidelines; "--"
       shall be recognized as a string operand.

       Implementations shall not support any options.

OPERANDS
       The following operands shall be supported:

       string A string to be written to standard output. If the first  operand
	      is  -n,  or  if  any of the operands contain a backslash ( '\' )
	      character, the results are implementation-defined.

       On XSI-conformant systems, if the first operand	is  -n,	 it  shall  be
       treated	as  a string, not an option. The following character sequences
       shall be recognized on XSI-conformant systems within any of  the	 argu‐
       ments:

       \a
	      Write an <alert>.

       \b
	      Write a <backspace>.

       \c
	      Suppress the <newline> that otherwise follows the final argument
	      in the output. All characters following the '\c'	in  the	 argu‐
	      ments shall be ignored.

       \f
	      Write a <form-feed>.

       \n
	      Write a <newline>.

       \r
	      Write a <carriage-return>.

       \t
	      Write a <tab>.

       \v
	      Write a <vertical-tab>.

       \\
	      Write a backslash character.

       \0num
	      Write  an 8-bit value that is the zero, one, two, or three-digit
	      octal number num.

STDIN
       Not used.

INPUT FILES
       None.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       The following environment variables shall affect the execution of echo:

       LANG   Provide a default value for the  internationalization  variables
	      that  are	 unset	or  null.  (See the Base Definitions volume of
	      IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section  8.2,  Internationalization	 Vari‐
	      ables  for the precedence of internationalization variables used
	      to determine the values of locale categories.)

       LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, override the values  of  all
	      the other internationalization variables.

       LC_CTYPE
	      Determine	 the  locale  for  the	interpretation of sequences of
	      bytes of text data as characters (for  example,  single-byte  as
	      opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments).

       LC_MESSAGES
	      Determine	 the  locale  that should be used to affect the format
	      and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.

       NLSPATH
	      Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of
	      LC_MESSAGES .

ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
       Default.

STDOUT
       The  echo utility arguments shall be separated by single <space>s and a
       <newline> shall follow the last argument.  Output transformations shall
       occur based on the escape sequences in the input. See the OPERANDS sec‐
       tion.

STDERR
       The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.

OUTPUT FILES
       None.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
       None.

EXIT STATUS
       The following exit values shall be returned:

	0     Successful completion.

       >0     An error occurred.

CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
       Default.

       The following sections are informative.

APPLICATION USAGE
       It is not possible to use echo portably across all POSIX systems unless
       both -n (as the first argument) and escape sequences are omitted.

       The  printf  utility  can be used portably to emulate any of the tradi‐
       tional behaviors of the echo utility as follows (assuming that IFS  has
       its standard value or is unset):

	* The  historic	 System V echo and the requirements on XSI implementa‐
	  tions in this volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 are equivalent to:

	  printf "%b\n" "$*"

	* The BSD echo is equivalent to:

	  if [ "X$1" = "X-n" ]
	  then
	      shift
	      printf "%s" "$*"
	  else
	      printf "%s\n" "$*"
	  fi

       New applications are encouraged to use printf instead of echo.

EXAMPLES
       None.

RATIONALE
       The echo utility has not been made obsolescent because of its extremely
       widespread  use	in  historical	applications.  Conforming applications
       that wish to do prompting without <newline>s or that could possibly  be
       expecting  to echo a -n, should use the printf utility derived from the
       Ninth Edition system.

       As specified, echo writes its arguments in the simplest of  ways.   The
       two  different historical versions of echo vary in fatally incompatible
       ways.

       The BSD echo checks the first argument for the string -n	 which	causes
       it  to  suppress	 the  <newline>	 that would otherwise follow the final
       argument in the output.

       The System V echo does not  support  any	 options,  but	allows	escape
       sequences  within its operands, as described for XSI implementations in
       the OPERANDS section.

       The echo utility does not support Utility Syntax Guideline  10  because
       historical  applications	 depend	 on echo to echo all of its arguments,
       except for the -n option in the BSD version.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
       None.

SEE ALSO
       printf

COPYRIGHT
       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in  electronic  form
       from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
       -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX),	The  Open  Group  Base
       Specifications  Issue  6,  Copyright  (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
       Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open  Group.  In  the
       event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
       The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group  Standard
       is  the	referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online
       at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

IEEE/The Open Group		     2003			      ECHO(1P)
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