printf
(1g)
Name
printf - format and print data
Synopsis
printf FORMAT [ARGUMENT]...
printf OPTION
Description
User Commands PRINTF(1)
NAME
printf - format and print data
SYNOPSIS
printf FORMAT [ARGUMENT]...
printf OPTION
DESCRIPTION
Print ARGUMENT(s) according to FORMAT, or execute according
to OPTION:
--help
display this help and exit
--version
output version information and exit
FORMAT controls the output as in C printf. Interpreted
sequences are:
\" double quote
\\ backslash
\a alert (BEL)
\b backspace
\c produce no further output
\e escape
\f form feed
\n new line
\r carriage return
\t horizontal tab
\v vertical tab
\NNN byte with octal value NNN (1 to 3 digits)
\xHH byte with hexadecimal value HH (1 to 2 digits)
\uHHHH
Unicode (ISO/IEC 10646) character with hex value HHHH
(4 digits)
\UHHHHHHHH
Unicode character with hex value HHHHHHHH (8 digits)
GNU coreutils 8.16 Last change: March 2012 1
User Commands PRINTF(1)
%% a single %
%b ARGUMENT as a string with '\' escapes interpreted,
except that octal escapes are of the form \0 or \0NNN
and all C format specifications ending with one of
diouxXfeEgGcs, with ARGUMENTs converted to proper type
first. Variable widths are handled.
NOTE: your shell may have its own version of printf, which
usually supersedes the version described here. Please refer
to your shell's documentation for details about the options
it supports.
AUTHOR
Written by David MacKenzie.
REPORTING BUGS
Report printf bugs to bug-coreutils@gnu.org
GNU coreutils home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/core-
utils/>
General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/geth-
elp/>
Report printf translation bugs to <http://translationpro-
ject.org/team/>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License
GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
<http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redis-
tribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted
by law.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
+---------------+--------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+--------------------+
|Availability | file/gnu-coreutils |
+---------------+--------------------+
|Stability | Uncommitted |
+---------------+--------------------+
SEE ALSO
printf(3C)
The full documentation for printf is maintained as a Texinfo
manual. If the info and printf programs are properly
installed at your site, the command
GNU coreutils 8.16 Last change: March 2012 2
User Commands PRINTF(1)
info coreutils 'printf invocation'
should give you access to the complete manual.
NOTES
This software was built from source available at
https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland. The original
community source was downloaded from
http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/coreutils/coreutils-8.16.tar.xz
Further information about this software can be found on the
open source community website at http://www.gnu.org/soft-
ware/coreutils/.
GNU coreutils 8.16 Last change: March 2012 3