Print newlines on command output

Question

If I get the result of a command on a variable, how can I print this output with new lines. Silly example:

XX=$(ls -l); echo $XX

When I execute the above sentence, I have one line ilegible result instead of a formatted return as I saw when ls -l is executed on a terminal. Is there any way to get the result of a command formatted or to display it's result with newlines?

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

5

You need double quotes to make the shells don't perform field splitting:

XX="$(ls -l)"; echo "$XX"

But it's not good to use echo with variable that you don't know its content, you should use printf (read this answer) instead:

XX="$(ls -l)"; printf '%s\n' "$XX"

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

Community

1

answered Nov 30 '14 at 18:45

cuonglm

153,898

What is dangerous about echoing a string? – glenn jackman Dec 01 '14 at 00:22
@glennjackman: No dangerous, it's just printf is better than echo. Read http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/65803/why-is-printf-better-than-echo/65819#65819. – cuonglm Dec 01 '14 at 01:29

Print newlines on command output

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