.TH prompt "" "" "/rdb Command"
.PC "Echo a string on the standard output"
\fBprompt \fIstring ...\fR
.PP
.II "string^prompt"
.II echo
The command
.B prompt
echoes a string onto the standard output.
It resembles the COHERENT command
.BR echo ,
but it does not write a newline character after the echoed string.
Thus, you can use
.B prompt
to write a prompt onto the screen.
.SH Example
The command
.DM
	prompt "Please enter your name: "
.DE
.PP
writes the following on the standard output:
.DM
	Please enter your name: _
.DE
.PP
The underscore character marks where this command leaves the cursor.
.SH "See Also"
.B
chr
.R
.br
COHERENT Lexicon:
.B
echo
.R
.SH Notes
.B prompt
looks for an environmental variable called
.BR ECHONOCR .
If the variable is missing or not equal to
.BR \-n ,
then
.B prompt
calles the COHERENT command
.B echo
with its \fB\-n\fR option, which drops the newline.
If
.B ECHONOCR
is set to anything other than
.BR \-n ,
then
.B prompt
calls
.BR \ec
option, which is used by some UNIX systems.
When using
.BR /rdb
under the COHERENT system, it is best just to not set
.BR ECHONOCR .