line returns in bash

gistfile1.txt

With bash, if you want to embed newlines in a string, enclose the string with $'':

$ list="One\ntwo\nthree\nfour"
$ echo "$list"
One\ntwo\nthree\nfour
$ list=$'One\ntwo\nthree\nfour'
$ echo "$list"
One
two
three
four
And if you have such a string already in a variable, you can read it line-by-line with:

while read -r line; do
    echo "... $line ..."
done <<< "$list"