Question

Say the following Bash script:

#!/bin/bash

export TEXTDOMAINDIR=./locale
export TEXTDOMAIN=test-gettext-read
. gettext.sh

echo -n $(gettext "Insert a word: ")
read word

GNU gettext is used to make the string translatable and read is used to get user input. However, even if there’s a trailing space in the gettext message, there’s no space in the terminal when I run the script. Example (cursor is |):

$ bash test-gettext-read.sh
Insert a word:|

As a workaround, I remove the trailing space in the gettext string and I add a space outside:

echo -n $(gettext "Insert a word:")" "

Then it works:

$ bash test-gettext-read.sh
Insert a word: |

My question: is there a better workaround?

Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

Dont use echo -n.

Simply do this:

gettext "Insert a word: "
read word

Or you could wrap your expression whit quotes and then pass it to echo:

echo -ne "$(gettext 'Insert\ta\tword: ')"

Using quotes will ensure that the result passed to echo will be interpreted as one parameter "Insert a word: " insteand of 3: 'Insert' 'a' 'word:'.