try with the -e flag: $ FRUIT_BASKET="apples oranges pears" $ echo -e 'My fruit basket contains: \n $FRUIT_BASKET' My fruit basket contains: $FRUIT_BASKET >Why the scape sequence; newline (\n) does not work in FreeBSD's bash, However, it works both in Linux and Solaris bash? -- Lyubomir Grigorov (bgalakazam)