Q:

Declaring User Defined Variable in Shell Scripting (csh shell)

I am trying to learn shell scripting and trying to create a user defined variable within the script, first:
howdy="Hello $USER !"
echo $howdy

However, when I execute the script (./first) I get this:
howdy=Hello aaron!: Command not found.
howdy: Undefined variable.

What am I doing wrong?

A:

You have two errors in you code:

you are using sh syntax instead of csh one to set the variable
you are not escaping the "!" character (history substitution)

Try this:
#!/bin/csh

set howdy="Hello $USER \!"
echo $howdy

