simple scripting question
 

is there anyway to assign a carriage return to a variable? just i regular bash scripting.

space="\n"

just ends up printing \n in the middle of the text instead of seperating it with a carriage return.

any help?

i think i tried that. or atleast something like that. anyway, i tried it like you did just to see. it works for the print out like that put when i use it in my array....which is what i've been testing most of this on before i turned here.... it didn't work. you can see the exact same variable is used for your test and mine. it works on yours but not mine. it just enters a space. not a return. why?

//***************************************\


#!/bin/bash

hi="hi"
space=" "
#space2="******"
space2='

'
goodbye="goodbye"
i=0
HELLO='
'

#Spare out entries into array
#priming read
array3[0]=${hi}$HELLO${goodbye}
echo ${array3[i]}
#echo $i


echo "hello $HELLO there dude"



//***************************************\
# ./carriage_return.sh
hi goodbye
hello
there dude

The echo command in bash will allow you to enter a newline or carriage return by using \n and \r respectively. You may have to use "echo -e \n" or "echo -e \r" (without the quotes). The -e is supposed to allow echo to use these 'special characters'. Try it both ways to learn...:cool:

maillion...i understand that. the problem is assigning that value into the middle of an array of characters. that's the problem. see the code above for what i'm trying to do. i want to be able to assign a carriage return between "hi" and "goodbye" in the array3[0] array.....sorry if i'm missunderstanding. i just wanted you to know what i was trying to do.

Using the -e with echo works.

sweet. now i under stand. thnx