Print multiple lines from a Text Document - Bash

Question

I have a program that is trying to print multiple lines from a text document. I have my main bash program, and I am using the line:

    Multlines=`</Users/$USER/Documents/text.txt`

    echo $Multlines

Where text.txt may look something like

    John
    Smith

but the echo prints John Smith where I want it to print it on different lines. How do I print it out that way?

While you now have an answer to this question, it seems to me that this may be an [XY Problem](http://mywiki.wooledge.org/XyProblem). Can you explain what you're hoping to achieve by solving this particular problem? There is almost certainly a better way than the one you're using. — ghoti, Aug 29 '15 at 16:17
@ghoti I am fairly new to bash, and I have just decided to create a text based game on bash. I have already done a couple on C++ and other languages, but this one I decided to be more of an RPG, and I wanted to add ASCII Art but without the hassle of entering the same image over and over again in the text. — dizee, Aug 29 '15 at 17:37

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 29 '15 at 16:04

1

To preserve the newline characters in the variable when printing with echo, you need to double quote it:

echo "$Multlines"

answered Aug 29 '15 at 16:04

janos

1

Also good to point out that [one should almost always quote variables in bash](http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/68694/when-is-double-quoting-necessary). – ghoti Aug 29 '15 at 16:15
This isn't working for me at all, it just shows up as John\nSmith – dizee Aug 29 '15 at 17:17
Wait never mind, it worked, Thanks!! – dizee Aug 29 '15 at 17:21

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 29 '15 at 16:06

0

You could also just use cat instead of echo, assuming you had it available to you.

answered Aug 29 '15 at 16:06

devoxel

2 Answers2