printf - Unix, Linux Command

NAME

printf - format and print data

SYNOPSIS

printf FORMAT [ARGUMENT]...
printf OPTION

DESCRIPTION

Print ARGUMENT(s) according to FORMAT.

Tag	Description
--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
\NNN	character with octal value NNN (1 to 3 digits)
\\	backslash
\a	alert (BEL)
\b	backspace
\c	produce no further output
\f	form feed
\n	new line
\r	carriage return
\t	horizontal tab
\v	vertical tab
\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)
%%	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 bugs to <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software. You may redistribute copies of it under the terms of the GNU General Public License <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.