Re: echo -n

[John McKown]

On Thu, Feb 2, 2017 at 10:56 AM, Jyoti B Tenginakai <jyoti.b.t@in.ibm.com> wrote:

HI All,

Thanks for your quick response.

I have tried using the printf instead of echo. But the issue with printf is , the behaviour is not consistent with what echo prints for all the inputs i.e.
In my script I am generically using echo for all the options. If I have to use printf instead of it should behave consistently .
if echo * is passed to bash shell, the o/p shows the \t seperated values whereas with printf '%s' *, it won't display space separated output. Again printf '%s ' # behaviour is different from what echo # shows

​Yes, it is. You can change the output by using the appropriate "format" (the '%s' in your example). For example:

echo -n *

could be emulated with:

printf '%s ' * #note the space in the format after the %s

The outputs are not _identical_ because the printf output has a trailing space, which the echo does not.​ If you want tab separators, try:

printf '%s\t' *

​If you want something which 100.0000% works exactly and identically like the BASH "echo" builtin, then you are doomed to disappointment. If you want a replacement for "echo -n", you might try using a function (defined in ~/.bashrc) similar to:

function echo-n() { printf '%s ' "$@" | sed -r 's/ $//'; }​

Thanks & Regards
--Jyoti

-- 

There’s no obfuscated Perl contest because it’s pointless.

—Jeff Polk

Maranatha! <><
John McKown