Echo command, and then run it? (Like make)

Question

Is there some way to get bash into a sort of verbose mode where, such that, when it\'s running a shell script, it echoes out the command it\'s going to run before running it? T

Answer 1

It's possible to use bash's printf in conjunction with the %q format specifier to escape the arguments so that spaces are preserved:

function echo_and_run {
  echo "$" "$@"
  eval $(printf '%q ' "$@") < /dev/tty
}