T o n g wrote: > It's a well known problem to show/prompt messages with embedded \n under > *nix.
Well known but obsolete now. If you need to use control sequences
such as \n or others then do not use echo at all but use printf
instead.
> - Unix Power Tools recommend a way to define $echo according to different
> environments, but I found that ceased to work a while ago.
The Unix Power Tools book is a wonderful tome of knowledge but
depending upon your edition was published quite a few years ago. Most
importantly for this case it predates the POSIX 'printf' command which
was created specifically to address the echo with format sequences
problem.
> - the printf can handle \n, but I found it produce much more trouble.
Uhm... Such as? Really, printf is the right tool to use.
> So, I'm wondering what's the current solution to show/prompt messages
> with embedded \n?
Use printf. What problems are you having with it?
$ printf "Hello world!\n"
Prior to using printf many of us would drop back to using awk's
printf. That is still available to you.
$ awk 'BEGIN{printf("Hello world!\n");exit}'
Bob
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