Backslashes within backquoted command substitutions do not behave the same way they would outside of backqutoed command substitution even when the command is otherwise identical (in this case an echo with a double-quoted argument). The backslashes are seen/parsed/consumed by the shell before it even invokes the subshell. In this case, you are left with echo "\" and so you get the error that the closing quote is not found because it's being escaped in the subshell.
Do yourself a massive favor and abandon all use of this archaic and obsoleted form of command substitution. It's quirky and buggy. Use $(...) instead and you'll live longer.
The string=$(echo "\\") form will work as expected, even as the command within the parenthesis increases in complexity. The same cannot be said of `...`.
Hi,
I have a script which looks through an input file and takes data from the file to use within the script.
Everything works fine until the script reads the item \windows\directory\structure\ from the input file into a variable.
As unix sees the backslash as an escape character, the... (5 Replies)
Hi
I need the "\\hello" (without double quotes) to be written to a file.
echo "\\\\hello" >file is working under bash shell but not working under ksh shell (gives only one / in the output)
Please advise.
TIA
Prvn (4 Replies)
I have a line that contains backslashes in which I want sed to substitute text with variables.
The line;
\\s008\2033330user$
I want to change this in \\s008.ourschool.com\2033330user$
I now use this script:
USER=2033330user
sed 's/\\'"$USER"'/.ourschool.com\\'"$USER/"
This doesn't... (3 Replies)
Bit of a weird one i suppose, i want to use an echo inside an echo... For example...
i have a script that i want to use to take users input and create another script. Inside this script it creates it also needs to use echos...
echo "echo "hello"" >$file
echo "echo "goodbye"" >$file
... (3 Replies)
Hi I am getting absurd behavior of escape character in echos as followed:oinlcso003{arsadm} #: echo "\as shdd"
\as shdd
oinlcso003{arsadm} #: echo "Well, isn't that \"special\"?"
Well, isn't that "special"?
oinlcso003{arsadm} #: echo "Well, isn't that \special\?"
Well, isn't that \special\?... (3 Replies)
Hi there,
I found something very weird!
Should I report that as a bug or is it me misusing the command?
I've got a file with a backslash in its name.
I know it's a horrible policy but it's not me.
The file came from a mac computer because this is a backup server.
Anyway, when using... (8 Replies)
Hello All,
In a Bash Script I'm writing I have a section where I loop through a text file that was
outputted by another script. In the text file some of the strings in there are enclosed with
the BOLD "character sequences" (i.e. "\033But it's weird, because if I run this command:
echo -E... (12 Replies)
Let's say I have a text file called process.out that contains:
cn=long\, ann,cn=users
cn=doe\, john,cn=users
I need to have the following appended in the beginning
ldapdelete -h $OIDHOST
So the final output looks like:
ldapdelete -h $OIDHOST "cn=long\, ann,cn=users"
ldapdelete -h... (4 Replies)
Hi,
How do I input \ when I do a vi of my file ? I try to input the \ but it came out as @.
Appreciate any help. (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: snowfrost88
4 Replies
LEARN ABOUT LINUX
shtool-echo
SHTOOL-ECHO.TMP(1) GNU Portable Shell Tool SHTOOL-ECHO.TMP(1)NAME
shtool-echo - GNU shtool echo(1) extensional command
SYNOPSIS
shtool echo [-n|--newline] [-e|--expand] string
DESCRIPTION
shtool echo is an echo(1) style command which prints string to stdout and optionally provides special expansion constructs (terminal bold
mode, environment details, date, etc) and newline control. The trick of this command is that it provides a portable -n option and hides the
gory details needed to find out the environment details under option -e.
OPTIONS
The following command line options are available.
-n, --newline
By default, output is written to stdout followed by a "newline" (ASCII character 0x0a). If option -n is used, this newline character is
omitted.
-e, --expand
If option -e is used, string can contain special "%x" constructs which are expanded before the output is written. Currently the
following constructs are recognized:
%B switch terminal mode to bold display mode.
%b switch terminal mode back to normal display mode.
%u the current user name.
%U the current user id (numerical).
%g the current group name.
%G the current group id (numerical).
%h the current hostname (without any domain extension).
%d the current domain name.
%D the current day of the month.
%M the current month (numerical).
%m the current month name.
%Y the current year.
EXAMPLE
# shell script
shtool echo -n -e "Enter your name [%B%u%b]: "; read name
shtool echo -e "Your Email address might be %u@%h%d"
shtool echo -e "The current date is %D-%m-%Y"
HISTORY
The GNU shtool echo command was originally written by Ralf S. Engelschall <rse@engelschall.com> in 1998 for Website META Language (WML)
under the name buildinfo. It was later taken over into GNU shtool.
SEE ALSO shtool(1), echo(1).
18-Jul-2008 shtool 2.0.8 SHTOOL-ECHO.TMP(1)