Login or Register to Ask a Question and Join Our Community


Shell Programming and Scripting

double backslash in ksh

Login to Discuss or Reply to this Discussion in Our Community

 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting double backslash in ksh
# 1  
Old 03-24-2009
double backslash in ksh
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
# 2  
Old 03-24-2009
I've had this before on Solaris where I usually script using ksh and you just keeping adding more "\" chars to your script until you get required number of them out!
# 3  
Old 03-24-2009
Thanks!

I tried the below and it worked

echo "\\\\\\hello"

But it would be great if we could understand how it worked.


Regards,
# 4  
Old 03-24-2009
Yes, exactly!
# 5  
Old 03-24-2009
the echo command has two options "-e"(default on most systems) which means to interpret the backslashes within the shell which requires you to escape them when they appear if you want them to print. With this method the first '\' scapes the second and you get only one printed. When you add more it starts getting the shell confused and eventually you may get two in the output. The other option is the one you want "-E" which tells the echo command to print the '\' backslash as it appears.
Code:
echo -E "\\hello"

will output \\hello to the screen

Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. Shell Programming and Scripting

Why double quotation marks doesn't work in ksh function parameters passing?

I'm working on AIX 6, ksh shell. The parameters are some strings quotated by double quotation marks which from a file. They are quotated because there may be spaces in them. Example: "015607" "10" " " "A"I want to pass these parameters to a shell function by writing the following command: ... (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: Shimmey
4 Replies

2. Shell Programming and Scripting

How to replace spaces excluding those within double quotes and after backslash?

In bash or perl, I would like to know how to substitute a null character (0x00) for every white space without changing the white spaces inside the block of double quotes and the white space immediately following a backslash. Suppose that sample.txt consists of the following line. "b 1" c\ 2 ... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: LessNux
2 Replies

3. Shell Programming and Scripting

ksh, difference between double bracket and single bracket

Can somebody tell me the difference between double brackets and single brackets, when doing a test. I have always been acustomed to using single brackets and have not encountered any issues to date. Why would somebody use double brackets. Ie if ] vs if Thanks to... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: BeefStu
2 Replies

4. Shell Programming and Scripting

Echo backslash

If I echo "\\" I get a backslash returned ~$ echo "\\" \ Why doesn't this work: string=`echo "\\"` echo $string I get the error message: bash: command substitution: line 1: unexpected EOF while looking for matching `"' bash: command substitution: line 2: syntax error: unexpected end... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: locoroco
2 Replies

5. Shell Programming and Scripting

passing double backslash(\\) as a path in unix

Hi All, I am trying to add a tag in the *.imp file. This is a piece of code which I am giving in my template file and my script reads this template file attachment and passes to windows server(as they have provided the below file path). ... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: defendersubbu
3 Replies

6. Shell Programming and Scripting

Ksh: Replace backslash characters

Hi All, I have a requirement to read a line from a file with some search string, replace any backslash characters in that line and store in a variable. Shell script: replace.ksh #!/bin/bash file2=input.rtf line=`grep "Invoice Number" ${file2} | head -1 | sed 's/\\//g'` echo "start... (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: prashas_d
6 Replies

7. Shell Programming and Scripting

Use of double square brackets in ksh

Hi First apologies if this has been raised before. I've got the following in a ksh script: if ] For some reason this does not work. But if I remove the double square brackets to: if This works. I thought ksh supported the ]. Or is there more to it? Thanks in advance. (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: tsu3000
3 Replies

8. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Escaping backslash

I have a variable containt something like this, c:\mask\mask. How can I escape "\" in the values? I want the value as it it. (9 Replies)
Discussion started by: swmk
9 Replies

9. Shell Programming and Scripting

ksh execute command containing double quotes

How do I execute a command containing a double quote ? I pass a variable to grep that contains spaces, so I need to quote it, but it does not work. #!/usr/bin/ksh set -x txt='"next to"' cmd="grep $txt ~dpearso5/file2" echo $cmd $cmd This is the error I get: + grep "next to"... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: pearson05
1 Replies

10. Shell Programming and Scripting

Double Substitution variables in ksh

Hi I have a variable whose value is like this i=/test/test1/test2/myfile.cd.070505123457 i would like to have the value of myfile.cd stored into another variable my attempt is test=${i##*/} ;echo $test ##and i get myfile.cd.070505123457 since what i wnat is myfile.cd i try this... (19 Replies)
Discussion started by: xiamin
19 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question