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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-09T19:56:53+00:00

I’m trying to write a bash script in CentOS that tests the various echo

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I’m trying to write a bash script in CentOS that tests the various echo escape sequences. However, when I run the program

./test.sh a

I keep getting this error message:

bad interpretation: no such file or directory

Here is the script:

#! /bin/bash

# Test echo escape sequences

input=$1

case $input in
   a ) echo -e "\a" testing \a;;
   b ) echo -e "\b" testing \b;;
   c ) echo -e "\c" testing \c;;
   * ) echo Incorrect input
   exit 1;;
esac

Where did I go wrong?

EDIT: I’m running CentOS Minimal guest in VirtualBox on a Windows XP host

EDIT 2: 

 #! bin/bash

was in my script, not

#! /bin/bash

When I changed it to 

 #! /bin/bash

and run the program ./test.sh a, it just prints “a”

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    [EDIT] Based on the original post, this is usually caused by DOS LINE ENDINGS.

    The CR in the CR/LF DOS line ending is being seen by the interpreter as part of the shell that should be used to execute the script.

    So, it tries to load /bin/bash(CR) which does not exist, hence “bad interpreter” is displayed.

    One easy way to correct this is to copy the contents of the script to the clipboard and then:

    cat > test.sh
    (PASTE CLIPBOARD)
    (PRESS ENTER)
    (PRESS CTRL-D)

    This will strip out any incorrect line endings (there are other ways to do it but this is a pretty easy / straight-forward solution.

    Once the “bad interpreter” issue was resolved, another syntax error in the script is the use of “\a” when you probably intend ‘\a’.

    [EDIT] I think I realize what you mean now. Try this instead:

    echo -e ‘\a’ testing ‘\\’a

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