Re: [PATCH] Adding support for '--' in builtin echo's option parsing.

[Greg Wooledge]

On Mon, Apr 01, 2013 at 03:16:07PM +0300, Hemmo Nieminen wrote:
> Description:
>         Currently it seems to be impossible to e.g. print "-n" with the 
> builtin
>         echo witout any extra characters.

You should use printf instead.  The echo command is a historical artifact
which cannot be used for general-purpose output.

http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/echo.html says:

    The echo utility shall not recognize the "--" argument in the manner
    specified by Guideline 10 of XBD Utility Syntax Guidelines ; "--"
    shall be recognized as a string operand.

So, in short, the current behavior is mandatory, and you as a shell script
writer are best served by moving away from echo to printf.