Unable to read backslash in user input before putting it in variable

Question

echo -ne " Enter Username: "
read -r username echo $username

User Input: admin\admin
Output: admin^Gdmin

Any idea why?

possible duplicate: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/924388/sh-read-command-eats-slashes-in-input — fredtantini, Jan 06 '15 at 10:18
Script works for me, did you quote the variable when you output it ? — , Jan 06 '15 at 10:46

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 06 '15 at 10:16

1

You can use read -r and use quoted variable in echo:

read -rp "Enter Username: " username
Enter Username: admin\admin
echo "$username"
admin\admin

Also echo -ne isn't allowed since you can use read -p.

answered Jan 06 '15 at 10:16

anubhava

Thanks for the reply, echo "$username" works but if I do this, it doesn't work: echo "$username" > /etc/file.csv vi files.csv Output: admin^Gdmin – Gary Jan 06 '15 at 17:40
`echo "$username" > /etc/file.csv` and `vi` works fine for me. What does `cat -vte /etc/file.csv` show to you? – anubhava Jan 06 '15 at 17:44
This is what I see admin^Gdmin$ – Gary Jan 06 '15 at 17:49
I can't reproduce it since I am getting `admin\admin` in terminal and in `vi` – anubhava Jan 06 '15 at 17:51
by the way i used echo -e "\n"$username"" – Gary Jan 06 '15 at 17:52
If I remove -e it worked but then \n doesn't work, any idea why > – Gary Jan 06 '15 at 17:59
`echo -e "\n"$username""` is wrong. Using `-e` will break it. You can use: `echo $'\n'"$username" > /tmp/file.csv` – anubhava Jan 06 '15 at 18:01
1

Sorry for late reply, didn't get a chance to test it out, I am sure this was the issue, Thanks a lot, will update soon – Gary Jan 06 '15 at 18:48

1 Answers1