Quoting strings

Strings that contain special characters or spaces should be quoted with the single-quote character. For example, to display the text ``Press return'', you could use the command:

   echo 'Press return'

To include a single quote in quoted text it should be repeated, as in:

   echo 'Don''t press return'

No substitution takes place within quoted strings.

The following characters are special, and cannot be included in a string unless they are quoted:

 

space, tab, or newline

|

bar

'

single quote

&

ampersand

()

parentheses

$

dollar sign

{}

braces (curly brackets)

`

backquote

<

less than

>

greater than

^

circumflex

:

colon

;

semicolon

\

backslash

%

percent

=

equals

#

hash

*

asterisk

[

open bracket

?

question mark