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I am trying to create a simple Linux BASH script but notice that bash is adding \r to every string, and if I try to remove it with 'tr' then it just add a new one! Here's my script

#!/bin/bash
OUTFILE=$(echo -n `date +"%Y-%m-%d_%H-%m-%S"`)
ASD='DDD'
echo -n "DATE [$OUTFILE]"
echo -n "DDD [$ASD]"

and here is the output

 bash -x backup-datadir.sh
+++ date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%m-%S
++ echo -n 2020-03-09_13-03-44
+ OUTFILE=$'2020-03-09_13-03-44\r'
+ ASD=$'DDD\r'
' echo -n 'DATE [2020-03-09_13-03-44
' echo -n 'DDD [DDD-03-44

Why is that extra \r appearing? The ] is gone because it is overwritten after the newline. I've never seen this before...

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  • 2
    What operating system are you using? Is this on Windows by any chance? Or did you create the script on Windows? Commented Mar 9, 2020 at 19:01
  • 2
    There is a CR in your script after the last ) on the OUTFILE assignment, and another at the end of the ASD assignment. Print the script with cat -vet to see these. Commented Mar 9, 2020 at 19:08
  • @Paul_Pedant, at the end of each and every line. The result looks a bit weirder than usual because there's two CR's in each echo, and no actual newlines. Commented Mar 9, 2020 at 20:19
  • @ilkkachu. I have seen posts here for /bin/bash: not found caused by \r on the shebang. So I was fairly sure that the shebang was edited in separately. But no: it is being explicitly run by a bash command, so the shebang is just a comment, so a \r makes no difference. And why use a .sh extension? Windows continues its malign influence in so many ways. Commented Mar 10, 2020 at 10:40

1 Answer 1

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Your script is a DOS text file, meaning it contains a carriage return character (often written \r) at the end of each and every line. Unix text files don't have this, and when a Unix system is outputting such a character, it causes the cursor position to move to the very start of the line. Further output to that line will then overwrite what was previously outputted there.

Converting the script to a Unix text file will solve your issue:

$ bash -x script.sh
+++ date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%m-%S
++ echo -n 2020-03-09_21-03-47
+ OUTFILE=$'2020-03-09_21-03-47\r'
+ ASD=$'DDD\r'
' echo -n 'DATE [2020-03-09_21-03-47
' echo -n 'DDD [DDD-03-47

$ dos2unix script.sh
dos2unix: converting file script.sh to Unix format...

$ bash -x script.sh
+++ date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%m-%S
++ echo -n 2020-03-09_21-03-03
+ OUTFILE=2020-03-09_21-03-03
+ ASD=DDD
+ echo -n 'DATE [2020-03-09_21-03-03]'
DATE [2020-03-09_21-03-03]+ echo -n 'DDD [DDD]'
DDD [DDD]

(there is no newline after output on the last line due to using echo -n).

$ bash script.sh
DATE [2020-03-09_21-03-19]DDD [DDD]

(there is no newline after output on the last line due to using echo -n).

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  • I had cut and paste from a web page directly into a linux editor, so I assumed the \r wouldn't paste in. But I was wrong... Commented Mar 9, 2020 at 22:17
  • A Web page rendered on a Windows machine? Commented Mar 9, 2020 at 22:39

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