The echo Command

Summary

The echo command displays input text to standard output. It’s often used in a shell script to log status, provide feedback to users, and for debugging. By default the output is displayed in the terminal but can be redirected to a file or piped to another process.

Basic command structure

echo [option] [string]

Possible Flags

-n

The -n flag means it will not output the trailing newline.

-e

The -e flag is used to enable the interpretation of backslash escapes. This allows you to add additional flags in your text block to format the text output.

When -e is added, a variety of other sequences can be added on including:

• \t adds a horizontal tab
• \v adds a vertical tab
• \n adds a new line

You can also use the echo command with variables

Output

The echo command has different options for output locations as described below:

Output displayed in command line

• This is the default ouput unless a different location is specified

Output redirected into a file

• Example: You could use the echo command to log the date you started work on a specific project.

These are just the simplest examples of how to use the ‘echo’ command, but it is a widely used and extremely versatile tool.

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