[SOLVED] What does $ do at beginning of echo?

mfoley · 05-19-2022, 03:07 PM

I'm trying to debug a script, not of my own authorship. There are several echo lines like like:

Code:

echo -n $"Starting OpenDKIM Milter... "

echo -n $"Stopping OpenDKIM Milter... "

What is the '$' at the front of the string supposed to do? I'm only familiar with its use as and enviroment variable, shell parameter or shell function designator. What does this contstruct do?

smallpond · 05-19-2022, 04:38 PM

From the bash man page

Code:

       A double-quoted string preceded by a dollar sign ($"string") will cause the string to be translated  ac‐
       cording  to  the  current  locale.   The  gettext infrastructure performs the message catalog lookup and
       translation, using the LC_MESSAGES and TEXTDOMAIN shell variables.  If the current locale is C or POSIX,
       or  if there are no translations available, the dollar sign is ignored.  If the string is translated and
       replaced, the replacement is double-quoted.

mfoley · 05-19-2022, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smallpond

From the bash man page

Code:

       A double-quoted string preceded by a dollar sign ($"string") will cause the string to be translated  ac‐
       cording  to  the  current  locale.   The  gettext infrastructure performs the message catalog lookup and
       translation, using the LC_MESSAGES and TEXTDOMAIN shell variables.  If the current locale is C or POSIX,
       or  if there are no translations available, the dollar sign is ignored.  If the string is translated and
       replaced, the replacement is double-quoted.

well, I learned something! Thanks. There is no locale info in the string, so nothing happened when I echoed it manually.