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How do I enter a literal tab character in a bash shell?

Fresh5 days ago

Mar 15, 2026126567 views

Confidence Score1%

1%

Problem

I wanted to use the sort utility with the option to specify tab separators, but doesn't work.

Error Output

sort -t "\t"

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Fix for: How do I enter a literal tab character in a bash shell?

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Don't use double quotes. Or I think Ctrl V inserts a Tab?? Edit: http://www.gnu.org/s/bash/manual/html_node/ANSI_002dC-Quoting.html#ANSI_002dC-Quoting

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