[...] > That must be some setting in (your?) bash: > > $ sh -c 'echo '\''foo\nbar'\''' > foo > bar > > $ bash -c 'echo '\''foo\nbar'\''' > foo\nbar > > $ dash -c 'echo '\''foo\nbar'\''' > foo > bar > > ... after a bit digging ... > > $ bash -c 'shopt -s xpg_echo; echo '\''foo\nbar'\''' > foo > bar > > $ bash -c 'shopt -u xpg_echo; echo '\''foo\nbar'\''' > foo\nbar > > you could try adding shopt -u xpg_echo into test-lib.sh Nice, that's the one! By quickly looking around Solaris it seems that it's the default compiled in. Thank you -- Vlad