DESCRIPTION

     The echo utility prints its arguments on the standard output, separated
     by spaces.  Unless the -n option is present, a newline is output follow-
     ing the arguments.  The -e option causes echo to treat the escape
     sequences specially, as described in the following paragraph.  The -e
     option is the default, and is provided solely for compatibility with
     other systems.  Only one of the options -n and -e may be given.

     If any of the following sequences of characters is encountered during
     output, the sequence is not output.  Instead, the specified action is
     performed:

     \b      A backspace character is output.

     \c      Subsequent output is suppressed.  This is normally used at the
             end of the last argument to suppress the trailing newline that
             echo would otherwise output.

     \f      Output a form feed.

     \n      Output a newline character.

     \r      Output a carriage return.

     \t      Output a (horizontal) tab character.

     \v      Output a vertical tab.

     \0digits
             Output the character whose value is given by zero to three dig-
             its.  If there are zero digits, a NUL character is output.

     \\      Output a backslash.

HINTS

     Remember that backslash is special to the shell and needs to be escaped.
     To output a message to standard error, say

           echo message >&2

BUGS

     The octal character escape mechanism (\0digits) differs from the C lan-
     guage mechanism.

     There is no way to force echo to treat its arguments literally, rather
     than interpreting them as options and escape sequences.

BSD                               May 4, 1995                              BSD