Working with printf in a bash script, adding no spaces after "\n" does not create a newline, whereas adding a space creates a newline, e. g.: No space after "\n" NewLine=`printf "\n"` echo -e "Firstline${NewLine}Lastline" Result: FirstlineLastline Space after "\n " NewLine=`printf "\n "` echo -e "Firstline${NewLine}Lastline" Result: Firstline Lastline Question: Why doesn't 1. create the following result: Firstline Lastline I know that this specific issue could have been worked around using other techniques, but I want to focus on why 1. does not work.