Why does echo -e “n” give me two blank lines instead of one?

-2

Let's say there's a line "aaaa" in file.txt, and I want to add ONLY ONE blank line after it, and then add a line of text after the blank line.

I did:

echo -e "n" >> file.txt

echo "bbbb" >> file.txt

And then I saw TWO blank lines between aaaa and bbbb

When I use only echo "bbbb" >> file.txt then there's no blank line between the two text line.

Why does this happen, and how do I get rid of it?

asked Feb 28 at 6:34

OhLook

1275

1

OK, let me summarise the correct answer: n means to move the cursor to the next line and doesn't mean a blank line.

– OhLook
Feb 28 at 7:30

add a comment |

-2

asked Feb 28 at 6:34

OhLook

1275

1

OK, let me summarise the correct answer: n means to move the cursor to the next line and doesn't mean a blank line.

– OhLook
Feb 28 at 7:30

add a comment |

-2

asked Feb 28 at 6:34

OhLook

1275

bash text-processing text-formatting

asked Feb 28 at 6:34

OhLook

1275

asked Feb 28 at 6:34

OhLook

1275

asked Feb 28 at 6:34

OhLook

1275

asked Feb 28 at 6:34

OhLook

1275

asked Feb 28 at 6:34

OhLook

1275

1

OK, let me summarise the correct answer: n means to move the cursor to the next line and doesn't mean a blank line.

– OhLook
Feb 28 at 7:30

add a comment |

1

OK, let me summarise the correct answer: n means to move the cursor to the next line and doesn't mean a blank line.

– OhLook
Feb 28 at 7:30

OK, let me summarise the correct answer: n means to move the cursor to the next line and doesn't mean a blank line.

– OhLook
Feb 28 at 7:30

add a comment |

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

echo outputs the string that you use as an argument, and then adds a newline character at the end of the outputted string to terminate the line.

With

echo "string"

you get string, and a newline at the end.

Therefore, with

echo -e "n"

you will get your newline, and a newline at the end (i.e. two empty lines).

If you don't want the extra newline (i.e. to output an unterminated line), use echo with its -n option or, in this case where you just want to insert an empty line, just use echo "" or echo without an argument at all.

From help echo in bash:

Options:

  -n        do not append a newline

  -e        enable interpretation of the following backslash escapes

If you want something that is portable to other shells besides bash, use printf instead:

printf 'n' >>file.txt

printf 'bbbbn' >>file.txt

Or, another way of doing those two statements with a single redirection:

{

    printf 'n'

    printf 'bbbbn'

} >>file.txt

Or simply

printf 'nbbbbn' >>file.txt

Why is printf better than echo?

edited Feb 28 at 7:32

answered Feb 28 at 6:37

Kusalananda

137k17258426

If there's indeed a newline automatically added to the first line when I used echo, then why did I get no blank line between the text in my second attempt (described under my question)?

– OhLook
Feb 28 at 6:42

1

@OhLook In your first attempt, you add two newlines (one is your n, the other comes from the newline that echo always adds). In your second attempt, you just add the string bbbb with a newline at the end. I don't really see where your confusion comes from.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:45

1

@OhLook Why would there be a blank line? Your file would contain aaaanbbbbn where the aaaan was there from the start and the bbbbn was added by echo 'bbbb'. Doing echo -e 'n' would add nn to the existing content of the file. If it contains aaaan already, you'll get aaaannn.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:48

1

@OhLook n is a newline character. It moves the cursor to the start of the next line. Had there been no newline at the end of aaaa from the start, you would get aaaabbbb on a single line when appending bbbb.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:51

1

@OhLook echo -e 'n' adds two newlines. See previous comment. You would have a run of three newline characters in the file. That means, the newline that is the end of the aaaa line (which was there from the start), and then two added by echo -e 'n'. This makes for two empty lines.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:54

|
show 3 more comments

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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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oldest

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echo outputs the string that you use as an argument, and then adds a newline character at the end of the outputted string to terminate the line.

With

echo "string"

you get string, and a newline at the end.

Therefore, with

echo -e "n"

you will get your newline, and a newline at the end (i.e. two empty lines).

From help echo in bash:

Options:

  -n        do not append a newline

  -e        enable interpretation of the following backslash escapes

If you want something that is portable to other shells besides bash, use printf instead:

printf 'n' >>file.txt

printf 'bbbbn' >>file.txt

Or, another way of doing those two statements with a single redirection:

{

    printf 'n'

    printf 'bbbbn'

} >>file.txt

Or simply

printf 'nbbbbn' >>file.txt

Why is printf better than echo?

edited Feb 28 at 7:32

answered Feb 28 at 6:37

Kusalananda

137k17258426

If there's indeed a newline automatically added to the first line when I used echo, then why did I get no blank line between the text in my second attempt (described under my question)?

– OhLook
Feb 28 at 6:42

1

@OhLook In your first attempt, you add two newlines (one is your n, the other comes from the newline that echo always adds). In your second attempt, you just add the string bbbb with a newline at the end. I don't really see where your confusion comes from.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:45

1

@OhLook Why would there be a blank line? Your file would contain aaaanbbbbn where the aaaan was there from the start and the bbbbn was added by echo 'bbbb'. Doing echo -e 'n' would add nn to the existing content of the file. If it contains aaaan already, you'll get aaaannn.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:48

1

@OhLook n is a newline character. It moves the cursor to the start of the next line. Had there been no newline at the end of aaaa from the start, you would get aaaabbbb on a single line when appending bbbb.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:51

1

@OhLook echo -e 'n' adds two newlines. See previous comment. You would have a run of three newline characters in the file. That means, the newline that is the end of the aaaa line (which was there from the start), and then two added by echo -e 'n'. This makes for two empty lines.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:54

|
show 3 more comments

echo outputs the string that you use as an argument, and then adds a newline character at the end of the outputted string to terminate the line.

With

echo "string"

you get string, and a newline at the end.

Therefore, with

echo -e "n"

you will get your newline, and a newline at the end (i.e. two empty lines).

From help echo in bash:

Options:

  -n        do not append a newline

  -e        enable interpretation of the following backslash escapes

If you want something that is portable to other shells besides bash, use printf instead:

printf 'n' >>file.txt

printf 'bbbbn' >>file.txt

Or, another way of doing those two statements with a single redirection:

{

    printf 'n'

    printf 'bbbbn'

} >>file.txt

Or simply

printf 'nbbbbn' >>file.txt

Why is printf better than echo?

edited Feb 28 at 7:32

answered Feb 28 at 6:37

Kusalananda

137k17258426

If there's indeed a newline automatically added to the first line when I used echo, then why did I get no blank line between the text in my second attempt (described under my question)?

– OhLook
Feb 28 at 6:42

1

@OhLook In your first attempt, you add two newlines (one is your n, the other comes from the newline that echo always adds). In your second attempt, you just add the string bbbb with a newline at the end. I don't really see where your confusion comes from.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:45

1

@OhLook Why would there be a blank line? Your file would contain aaaanbbbbn where the aaaan was there from the start and the bbbbn was added by echo 'bbbb'. Doing echo -e 'n' would add nn to the existing content of the file. If it contains aaaan already, you'll get aaaannn.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:48

1

@OhLook n is a newline character. It moves the cursor to the start of the next line. Had there been no newline at the end of aaaa from the start, you would get aaaabbbb on a single line when appending bbbb.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:51

1

@OhLook echo -e 'n' adds two newlines. See previous comment. You would have a run of three newline characters in the file. That means, the newline that is the end of the aaaa line (which was there from the start), and then two added by echo -e 'n'. This makes for two empty lines.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:54

|
show 3 more comments

echo outputs the string that you use as an argument, and then adds a newline character at the end of the outputted string to terminate the line.

With

echo "string"

you get string, and a newline at the end.

Therefore, with

echo -e "n"

you will get your newline, and a newline at the end (i.e. two empty lines).

From help echo in bash:

Options:

  -n        do not append a newline

  -e        enable interpretation of the following backslash escapes

If you want something that is portable to other shells besides bash, use printf instead:

printf 'n' >>file.txt

printf 'bbbbn' >>file.txt

Or, another way of doing those two statements with a single redirection:

{

    printf 'n'

    printf 'bbbbn'

} >>file.txt

Or simply

printf 'nbbbbn' >>file.txt

Why is printf better than echo?

edited Feb 28 at 7:32

answered Feb 28 at 6:37

Kusalananda

137k17258426

echo outputs the string that you use as an argument, and then adds a newline character at the end of the outputted string to terminate the line.

With

echo "string"

you get string, and a newline at the end.

Therefore, with

echo -e "n"

you will get your newline, and a newline at the end (i.e. two empty lines).

From help echo in bash:

Options:

  -n        do not append a newline

  -e        enable interpretation of the following backslash escapes

If you want something that is portable to other shells besides bash, use printf instead:

printf 'n' >>file.txt

printf 'bbbbn' >>file.txt

Or, another way of doing those two statements with a single redirection:

{

    printf 'n'

    printf 'bbbbn'

} >>file.txt

Or simply

printf 'nbbbbn' >>file.txt

Why is printf better than echo?

edited Feb 28 at 7:32

answered Feb 28 at 6:37

Kusalananda

137k17258426

edited Feb 28 at 7:32

answered Feb 28 at 6:37

Kusalananda

137k17258426

answered Feb 28 at 6:37

Kusalananda

137k17258426

answered Feb 28 at 6:37

Kusalananda

137k17258426

If there's indeed a newline automatically added to the first line when I used echo, then why did I get no blank line between the text in my second attempt (described under my question)?

– OhLook
Feb 28 at 6:42

1

@OhLook In your first attempt, you add two newlines (one is your n, the other comes from the newline that echo always adds). In your second attempt, you just add the string bbbb with a newline at the end. I don't really see where your confusion comes from.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:45

1

@OhLook Why would there be a blank line? Your file would contain aaaanbbbbn where the aaaan was there from the start and the bbbbn was added by echo 'bbbb'. Doing echo -e 'n' would add nn to the existing content of the file. If it contains aaaan already, you'll get aaaannn.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:48

1

@OhLook n is a newline character. It moves the cursor to the start of the next line. Had there been no newline at the end of aaaa from the start, you would get aaaabbbb on a single line when appending bbbb.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:51

1

@OhLook echo -e 'n' adds two newlines. See previous comment. You would have a run of three newline characters in the file. That means, the newline that is the end of the aaaa line (which was there from the start), and then two added by echo -e 'n'. This makes for two empty lines.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:54

|
show 3 more comments

If there's indeed a newline automatically added to the first line when I used echo, then why did I get no blank line between the text in my second attempt (described under my question)?

– OhLook
Feb 28 at 6:42

1

@OhLook In your first attempt, you add two newlines (one is your n, the other comes from the newline that echo always adds). In your second attempt, you just add the string bbbb with a newline at the end. I don't really see where your confusion comes from.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:45

1

@OhLook Why would there be a blank line? Your file would contain aaaanbbbbn where the aaaan was there from the start and the bbbbn was added by echo 'bbbb'. Doing echo -e 'n' would add nn to the existing content of the file. If it contains aaaan already, you'll get aaaannn.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:48

1

@OhLook n is a newline character. It moves the cursor to the start of the next line. Had there been no newline at the end of aaaa from the start, you would get aaaabbbb on a single line when appending bbbb.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:51

1

@OhLook echo -e 'n' adds two newlines. See previous comment. You would have a run of three newline characters in the file. That means, the newline that is the end of the aaaa line (which was there from the start), and then two added by echo -e 'n'. This makes for two empty lines.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:54

If there's indeed a newline automatically added to the first line when I used echo, then why did I get no blank line between the text in my second attempt (described under my question)?

– OhLook
Feb 28 at 6:42

@OhLook In your first attempt, you add two newlines (one is your n, the other comes from the newline that echo always adds). In your second attempt, you just add the string bbbb with a newline at the end. I don't really see where your confusion comes from.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:45

@OhLook Why would there be a blank line? Your file would contain aaaanbbbbn where the aaaan was there from the start and the bbbbn was added by echo 'bbbb'. Doing echo -e 'n' would add nn to the existing content of the file. If it contains aaaan already, you'll get aaaannn.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:48

@OhLook n is a newline character. It moves the cursor to the start of the next line. Had there been no newline at the end of aaaa from the start, you would get aaaabbbb on a single line when appending bbbb.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:51

@OhLook echo -e 'n' adds two newlines. See previous comment. You would have a run of three newline characters in the file. That means, the newline that is the end of the aaaa line (which was there from the start), and then two added by echo -e 'n'. This makes for two empty lines.

– Kusalananda
Feb 28 at 6:54

|
show 3 more comments

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