Overview
The echo command is used to display strings or variables in the terminal.
Usage
echo [options] [args]
Descriptionecho is ideal for outputting text, displaying variables, and creating formatted outputs.
Options
-e: Enables escape characters such as newline\nand tab\t. Common escape sequences include:\n: Newline\t: Horizontal tab\\: Backslash\": Double quote\a: Alert (beep)\b: Backspace\v: Vertical tab
-n: Prevents auto newline at the end of the output. By default,echowill automatically add a newline, which-ncan disable.
Arguments
args: One or more strings or variables to be printed.
Examples
1 Simple Text Output
$ echo "Hello, World!"
Output:
Hello, World!
2 Display Variable Values
You can print variable values by prefixing the variable name with $:
$ name="Alice"
$ echo "Hello, $name"
Output:
Hello, Alice
To display environment variables:
$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
$ echo $HOME
/home/user
$ echo $USER
user
3 Using Command Substitution
echo can use command substitution with $(command) to insert the output of a command:
$ echo "Today is $(date)"
Output:
Today is Sun Oct 25 10:20:22 AM
4 Multi-line Output
Use the -e option to enable escape characters like \n for multi-line output:
$ echo -e "Line 1\nLine 2\nLine 3"
Output:
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
5 Suppress Auto Newline
To suppress the newline, use -n:
$ echo -n "Hello, World!"
Output:
Hello, World! (without newline)
6 Using Escape Characters
Enable escape characters with -e for features like tabs (\t) and newlines (\n):
$ echo -e "Column1\tColumn2\nData1\tData2"
Output:
Column1 Column2
Data1 Data2
7 Redirect Output to File
Redirect echo output to a file. Use > to overwrite or >> to append:
$ echo "Hello, World!" > output.txt # Overwrite
$ echo "Another Line" >> output.txt # Append
8 Output Strings with Special Characters
For special characters (like $, “, ), use single quotes or escape them with \:
$ echo "This is a dollar sign: \$ and a quote: \""
Output:
This is a dollar sign: $ and a quote: “
