print formatted output in bash variables

Question

I am using a bash script where I must store the last n-2 lines of a file in a variable. The command I use for this is

last_n2_lines=`tail -n+3 $file`

Now whenever i echo the $last_n2_lines variable, I get all the lines of my file in a single line. How can I get the same formatting as I had in my original file. I tried printf but it just prints the first field.

Anton Kovalenko · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-08 13:10:24Z

2

Try this:

echo "$last_n2_lines"

echo doesn't see the original value in your variant, because it's broken down to argv array.

answered Feb 8, 2013 at 13:10

Anton Kovalenko

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4 Comments

anishsane Over a year ago

& to add, it's not echo's fault. It's the way shell expands the variables. with double quotes, echo receives ONE argument, which holds entire data.

prathmesh.kallurkar Over a year ago

does echo do anything funny when the variable contains a ^L character.

Anton Kovalenko Over a year ago

it does not. When working interactive, bash can do something funny (^ is somewhat special for history substitution, see histchars in man bash), but not in a script.

Anton Kovalenko Over a year ago

And if you mean Control+L (not separate ^+L), it shouldn't be special, neither for bash nor for echo.

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