echo -e "\033[1mLine0\033[0m" nr_vhosts=0 nr_var=0 nr_conn_total=0 for ((i=$r1; i <= $r2 ; i++)) do echo -e "\033[1mLine1\033[0m" The program echoes Line0, but not Line1, and i get this error: : syntax erroe: operand expected (error token is " ") i added the two echo's for debugging, hope that this is the place where the problem is.