[SOLVED] Bash; awk or sed output to variable: how keep newline at end of each output line

porphyry5 · 06-10-2011, 05:28 PM

Either of

Code:

txt=$(sed -n -e "${ln[0]},${ln[1]} p" -e "${ln[1]} q" Notes)
txt=$(awk -v x=${ln[0]} -v y=${ln[1]} 'NR>x, NR<y' < Notes)

does what I want except all the newlines are removed if their output goes to a variable. How can I preserve them?

colucix · 06-10-2011, 05:37 PM

Have you tried to embed the variable in double quotes?

Code:

echo "$txt"

porphyry5 · 06-10-2011, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colucix

Have you tried to embed the variable in double quotes?

Code:

echo "$txt"

Aah, thank you. So they are there, its just that echo $txt shows line breaks as spaces.

colucix · 06-10-2011, 05:50 PM

This is the way echo works: it outputs the arguments separated by spaces. Multiple lines are multiple arguments separated by newlines, whereas using double quotes multiple lines are treated as a single argument containing newlines and it is printed as is.