How to set a shell variable containing a single dash '-'?

Question

How do I set a variable in ~~Bash~~ Zsh with a single dash (-)?

None of these work:

x=-
x=\-
x='-'

EDIT: this seems to work fine in Bash, I was testing this with echo in Zsh which doesn't work.

All of those assignments work. Perhaps your problem is elsewhere. How are you using that variable? — ilkkachu, Sep 22 '21 at 22:17
Answer your own question explaining what was going on, for later reference. — vonbrand, Sep 22 '21 at 22:22
@vonbrand, Why is printf better than echo? comes to mind. Subbeh, you're not an idiot, it's just that echo sucks. — ilkkachu, Sep 22 '21 at 22:25

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 22 '21 at 22:30

0

The problem was with echo. The variable is assigned correctly but had to be used with echo - $x instead.

answered Sep 22 '21 at 22:30

Subbeh

1 Answers1