On Sun, Jan 2, 2011 at 2:27 PM, S Mathias <smathias1972 at yahoo.com> wrote: > $ ASDF=hello; a=0; a=$(( 70 - $(echo $ASDF | awk '{print length}') )); echo "$a $ASDF"$(for i in {1..$a}; do printf "."; done) > 65 hello. > $ > > Why doesn't it print: > 65 hello................................................................. > > What am i missing? > This is not a group for basic shell programming questions, nor is the Ubuntu list where you also posted this exact same question. Please learn to do your own homework and ask list-appropriate questions in the right lists. I'm guessing that a little basic netiquette is what you are missing.