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Exceptions to rules cause mental overhead and maintenance headaches. Why should `echo` be the single solitary tool that responds differently to invocation with

• enriquto 2y ago
  Let me play the uno reverse card: why should "--help" be the single solitary string that echo does not print like the others?
  • scubbo 2y ago
    For two reasons, both related to the Principle of Least Astonishment: * Because the likelihood that someone entering `echo --help` _actually_ wants to print `--help` is staggeringly low * Because it's not the "single solitary string" that has special handling - `echo -n` does not print `-n`. `echo` already supports flags, and so it would be most-consistent and least-surprising for it to also support a standard default one