How do I echo “-e”?

Question

I want to echo a string that might contain the same parameters as echo. How can I do it without modifying the string?

For

Answer 1

Since we're using bash, another alternative to echo is to simply cat a "here string":

$ var="-e something"
$ cat <<< "$var"
-e something
$ var="-e"
$ cat <<< "$var"
-e
$ 

printf-based solutions will almost certainly be more portable though.