2017-02-02 22:26:22 +0530, Jyoti B Tenginakai: [...] > 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 [...]
See also: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/65803/why-is-printf-better-than-echo In bash, you can define: puts() { local IFS=' ' printf '%s\n' "$*" } as a function that outputs its arguments separated by spaces and terminated with a newline character. POSIXly: puts() ( IFS=' ' printf '%s\n' "$*" ) With with some shells like bash, that implies an additional fork. Note hat ksh and zsh also have: print -r -- * for that. -- Stephane
