Why there is a difference between the output of 'echo $VAR

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I'm working on a Bash script and the length of the string contained in a certain variable is one of my conditions. The current string is W5u7TBTzF17GGFV8DBJHvgAAAAI. Initially I've count the string length by the help of wc -c:

$ echo 'W5u7TBTzF17GGFV8DBJHvgAAAAI' | wc -c
28

$ VAR='W5u7TBTzF17GGFV8DBJHvgAAAAI'
$ echo "$VAR" | wc -c
28

But my script condition [[ $#VAR -eq 28 ]] never pass. Then I decided to count the characters on by one. And actually the string length is 27 characters:

W5u7TBTzF17GGFV8DBJHvgAAAAI
---------------------------
123456789012345678901234567
 1 2

Also the value of $#VAR is 27:

$ echo "$#VAR"
27

So I'm in wondering from where this difference comes from?

asked 1 hour ago

pa4080

12.2k52256

1

This echo -n $VAR | wc -c give 27, so newline character is there
â€“Â George Udosen
54 mins ago

1

@GeorgeUdosen, probably this should be the answer :)
â€“Â pa4080
49 mins ago

add a commentÂ |Â

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1
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$ echo 'W5u7TBTzF17GGFV8DBJHvgAAAAI' | wc -c
28

$ VAR='W5u7TBTzF17GGFV8DBJHvgAAAAI'
$ echo "$VAR" | wc -c
28

But my script condition [[ $#VAR -eq 28 ]] never pass. Then I decided to count the characters on by one. And actually the string length is 27 characters:

W5u7TBTzF17GGFV8DBJHvgAAAAI
---------------------------
123456789012345678901234567
 1 2

Also the value of $#VAR is 27:

$ echo "$#VAR"
27

So I'm in wondering from where this difference comes from?

asked 1 hour ago

pa4080

12.2k52256

1

This echo -n $VAR | wc -c give 27, so newline character is there
â€“Â George Udosen
54 mins ago

1

@GeorgeUdosen, probably this should be the answer :)
â€“Â pa4080
49 mins ago

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
1
down vote

favorite

$ echo 'W5u7TBTzF17GGFV8DBJHvgAAAAI' | wc -c
28

$ VAR='W5u7TBTzF17GGFV8DBJHvgAAAAI'
$ echo "$VAR" | wc -c
28

But my script condition [[ $#VAR -eq 28 ]] never pass. Then I decided to count the characters on by one. And actually the string length is 27 characters:

W5u7TBTzF17GGFV8DBJHvgAAAAI
---------------------------
123456789012345678901234567
 1 2

Also the value of $#VAR is 27:

$ echo "$#VAR"
27

So I'm in wondering from where this difference comes from?

asked 1 hour ago

pa4080

12.2k52256

$ echo 'W5u7TBTzF17GGFV8DBJHvgAAAAI' | wc -c
28

$ VAR='W5u7TBTzF17GGFV8DBJHvgAAAAI'
$ echo "$VAR" | wc -c
28

But my script condition [[ $#VAR -eq 28 ]] never pass. Then I decided to count the characters on by one. And actually the string length is 27 characters:

W5u7TBTzF17GGFV8DBJHvgAAAAI
---------------------------
123456789012345678901234567
 1 2

Also the value of $#VAR is 27:

$ echo "$#VAR"
27

So I'm in wondering from where this difference comes from?

command-line bash scripts echo wc

asked 1 hour ago

pa4080

12.2k52256

asked 1 hour ago

pa4080

12.2k52256

asked 1 hour ago

pa4080

12.2k52256

asked 1 hour ago

pa4080

12.2k52256

asked 1 hour ago

pa4080

12.2k52256

1

This echo -n $VAR | wc -c give 27, so newline character is there
â€“Â George Udosen
54 mins ago

1

@GeorgeUdosen, probably this should be the answer :)
â€“Â pa4080
49 mins ago

add a commentÂ |Â

1

This echo -n $VAR | wc -c give 27, so newline character is there
â€“Â George Udosen
54 mins ago

1

@GeorgeUdosen, probably this should be the answer :)
â€“Â pa4080
49 mins ago

This echo -n $VAR | wc -c give 27, so newline character is there
â€“Â George Udosen
54 mins ago

@GeorgeUdosen, probably this should be the answer :)
â€“Â pa4080
49 mins ago

add a commentÂ |Â

1 Answer
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It's the way echo works. Now do

echo koko

You get

georgek@georgek-HP-Pavilion-17-Notebook-PC:~$ echo koko
koko

But do echo -n koko and you get

georgek@georgek-HP-Pavilion-17-Notebook-PC:~$ echo -n koko
kokogeorgek@georgek-HP-Pavilion-17-Notebook-PC:~$

So wc is capturing the newline character too. Use

echo -n $VAR | wc -c

To get the desired result. The echo command will add the newline character, so that gets counted too. To remove this and get the real count use the -n option.

answered 48 mins ago

George Udosen

17.1k93660

add a commentÂ |Â

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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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active

oldest

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up vote
5
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accepted

It's the way echo works. Now do

echo koko

You get

georgek@georgek-HP-Pavilion-17-Notebook-PC:~$ echo koko
koko

But do echo -n koko and you get

georgek@georgek-HP-Pavilion-17-Notebook-PC:~$ echo -n koko
kokogeorgek@georgek-HP-Pavilion-17-Notebook-PC:~$

So wc is capturing the newline character too. Use

echo -n $VAR | wc -c

To get the desired result. The echo command will add the newline character, so that gets counted too. To remove this and get the real count use the -n option.

answered 48 mins ago

George Udosen

17.1k93660

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
5
down vote

accepted

It's the way echo works. Now do

echo koko

You get

georgek@georgek-HP-Pavilion-17-Notebook-PC:~$ echo koko
koko

But do echo -n koko and you get

georgek@georgek-HP-Pavilion-17-Notebook-PC:~$ echo -n koko
kokogeorgek@georgek-HP-Pavilion-17-Notebook-PC:~$

So wc is capturing the newline character too. Use

echo -n $VAR | wc -c

To get the desired result. The echo command will add the newline character, so that gets counted too. To remove this and get the real count use the -n option.

answered 48 mins ago

George Udosen

17.1k93660

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
5
down vote

accepted

It's the way echo works. Now do

echo koko

You get

georgek@georgek-HP-Pavilion-17-Notebook-PC:~$ echo koko
koko

But do echo -n koko and you get

georgek@georgek-HP-Pavilion-17-Notebook-PC:~$ echo -n koko
kokogeorgek@georgek-HP-Pavilion-17-Notebook-PC:~$

So wc is capturing the newline character too. Use

echo -n $VAR | wc -c

To get the desired result. The echo command will add the newline character, so that gets counted too. To remove this and get the real count use the -n option.

answered 48 mins ago

George Udosen

17.1k93660

It's the way echo works. Now do

echo koko

You get

georgek@georgek-HP-Pavilion-17-Notebook-PC:~$ echo koko
koko

But do echo -n koko and you get

georgek@georgek-HP-Pavilion-17-Notebook-PC:~$ echo -n koko
kokogeorgek@georgek-HP-Pavilion-17-Notebook-PC:~$

So wc is capturing the newline character too. Use

echo -n $VAR | wc -c

To get the desired result. The echo command will add the newline character, so that gets counted too. To remove this and get the real count use the -n option.

answered 48 mins ago

George Udosen

17.1k93660

answered 48 mins ago

George Udosen

17.1k93660

answered 48 mins ago

George Udosen

17.1k93660

answered 48 mins ago

George Udosen

17.1k93660

add a commentÂ |Â

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