> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://kgk.gitbook.io/resources/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://kgk.gitbook.io/resources/resources/linux/commands/echo-command.md).
# Echo command
### The Linux `echo` command
The `echo` command does one simple job: it prints to the output the argument passed to it.
This example:
```bash
echo "hello"
```
will print `hello` to the terminal.
We can append the output to a file:
```bash
echo "hello" >> output.txt
```
We can interpolate environment variables:
```bash
echo "The path variable is $PATH"
```
Beware that special characters need to be escaped with a backslash `\`. `$` for example:
\
This is just the start. We can do some nice things when it comes to interacting with the shell features.
We can echo the files in the current folder:
```bash
echo *
```
We can echo the files in the current folder that start with the letter `o`:
```bash
echo o*
```
Any valid Bash (or any shell you are using) command and feature can be used here.
You can print your home folder path:
```bash
echo ~
```
You can also execute commands, and print the result to the standard output (or to file, as you saw):
```bash
echo $(ls -al)
```
Note that whitespace is not preserved by default. You need to wrap the command in double quotes to do so:
You can generate a list of strings, for example ranges:
```bash
echo {1..5}
```
---
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Beware that special characters need to be escaped with a backslash `\`. `$` for example:
\
This is just the start. We can do some nice things when it comes to interacting with the shell features.
We can echo the files in the current folder:
```bash
echo *
```
We can echo the files in the current folder that start with the letter `o`:
```bash
echo o*
```
Any valid Bash (or any shell you are using) command and feature can be used here.
You can print your home folder path:
```bash
echo ~
```
You can also execute commands, and print the result to the standard output (or to file, as you saw):
```bash
echo $(ls -al)
```
Note that whitespace is not preserved by default. You need to wrap the command in double quotes to do so:
You can generate a list of strings, for example ranges:
```bash
echo {1..5}
```