bug#13919: using echo to branch line

[Pádraig Brady]

tag 13919 notabug
close 13919
stop

On 03/10/2013 12:44 PM, 王宾 wrote:
> --
> hi,
> As we know:
> address@hidden my_shell]$ echo $PATH
> /usr/local/Trolltech/Qt-4.7.4/bin:/usr/lib/qt-3.3/bin:/usr/kerberos/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/home/polar/bin:/sbin
> address@hidden my_shell]$
> when i use
> address@hidden my_shell]$ echo  ${PATH//:/'\n'}   -e
> to branch line and hope the result may be like this
> address@hidden my_shell]$ echo $PATH | sed 's/:/\n/g'
> /usr/local/Trolltech/Qt-4.7.4/bin
> /usr/lib/qt-3.3/bin
> /usr/kerberos/bin
> /usr/local/bin
> /usr/bin
> /bin
> /usr/X11R6/bin
> /home/polar/bin
> /sbin
> address@hidden my_shell]$
> but i can't get the result according---echo  ${PATH//:/'\n'}   -e, and i have 
> searched the Internet but no answer, so i send this e-mail to you for help,  
> thank you for sparing your time and  thank you for your answer!

You need the -e first, for it to be interpreted as an option.
Be wary though, as echo has bad portability between various systems.

$ echo -e "${PATH//:/\n}"
/usr/bin
/bin

$ printf '%s\n' "$PATH" | tr ':' '\n'
/usr/bin
/bin

thanks,
Pádraig.