echo variable value in Mac bash script

Question

This code tries to display a echo instructions in yellow and prints back the next echo with the user input but it is failing.

#!/bin/bash
YELLOW="\033[33m";
echo -e '${YELLOW}enter app name'
read name

echo -e '${YELLOW}rebuild $name after code changes'

gives

${YELLOW}rebuild $name after code changes

instead of what the user input in yellow. Any idea how to fix it?

Paul R · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-04 20:55:31Z

6

Use soft (double) quotes, not hard (single) quotes, otherwise variables will not be expanded:

#!/bin/bash
YELLOW="\033[33m";
echo -e "${YELLOW}enter app name"
read name
echo -e "${YELLOW}rebuild $name after code changes"

answered Dec 4, 2016 at 20:55

Paul R

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2 Comments

Fred J. Over a year ago

One problem I did not expect is that the colour affects all feature outputs, How can I make just the echo output yellow but not any thing else?

Paul R Over a year ago

You would just need to add another control code at the end of the line to return to whatever your default colour is. However that is beyond the scope of this question.

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