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printf
Format and print data.
Write the formatted arguments to the standard output under the control
of the format.
SYNTAX
printf format [arguments ...]
OPTIONS
The format characters and their meanings are:
di The argument is printed as a signed decimal (d or i), respectively.
o The argument is printed as an unsigned octal
u The argument is printed as an unsigned decimal
oXx The argument is printed as an unsigned hexadecimal
f The argument is printed in the style [-]ddd.ddd where the
number of d's after the decimal point is equal to the preci-
sion specification for the argument. If the precision is
missing, 6 digits are given; if the precision is explicitly
0, no digits and no decimal point are printed.
eE The argument is printed in the style [-]d.ddde+-dd where
there is one digit before the decimal point and the number
after is equal to the precision specification for the argu-
ment; when the precision is missing, 6 digits are produced.
An upper-case E is used for an `E' format.
gG The argument is printed in style f or in style e (E)
whichever gives full precision in minimum space.
b Characters from the string argument are printed with back-
slash-escape sequences expanded.
c The first character of argument is printed.
s Characters from the string argument are printed until the end
is reached or until the number of characters indicated by the
precision specification is reached; however if the precision
is 0 or missing, all characters in the string are printed.
% Print a `%'; no argument is used.
The format is a character string which contains three types of objects:
plain characters, which are simply copied to standard output,
character escape sequences which are converted and copied to standard output,
and format specifications, each of which causes printing of the next
successive argument.
The arguments after the first are treated as strings if the corresponding
format is either b, c or s; otherwise it is evaluated as a C constant,
with the following extensions:
- A leading plus or minus sign is allowed.
- If the leading character is a single or double quote,
the value is the ASCII code of the next character.
The format string is reused as often as necessary to satisfy the
arguments. Any extra format specifications are evaluated with zero or
the null string.
Character escape sequences are in backslash notation as defined in ANSI X3.159-1989 (`ANSI C').
The characters and their meanings are as follows:
\e Write an <escape> character.
\a Write a <bell> character.
\b Write a <backspace> character.
\f Write a <form-feed> character.
\n Write a <new-line> character.
\r Write a <carriage return> character.
\t Write a <tab> character.
\v Write a <vertical tab> character.
\' Write a <single quote> character.
\\ Write a backslash character.
\num Write an 8-bit character whose ASCII value is the 1-, 2-,
or 3-digit octal number num.
Each format specification is introduced by the percent character (`%').
The remainder of the format specification includes, in the following
order:
Zero or more of the following flags:
# Signifies that the value should be printed in an `alternative form'.
For c, d, and s,formats, this option has no effect.
For the o formats the precision of the number is increased
to force the first character of the output string to a zero.
For the x (X) format, a non-zero result has the string 0x (0X)
prepended to it. For e, E, f, g, and G, formats, the
result will always contain a decimal point, even if no
digits follow the point (normally, a decimal point only
appears in the results of those formats if a digit fol-
lows the decimal point). For g and G formats, trailing
zeros are not removed from the result as they would oth-
erwise be;
- A minus sign `-' which specifies left adjustment of the
output in the indicated field;
+ A `+' character specifying that there should always be a
sign placed before the number when using signed formats.
` ' A space specifying that a blank should be left before a
positive number for a signed format. A `+' overrides a
space if both are used;
0 A zero `0' character indicating that zero-padding should
be used rather than blank-padding. A `-' overrides a `0'
if both are used;
Field Width:
An optional digit string specifying a field width; if the output
string has fewer characters than the field width it will be
blank-padded on the left (or right, if the left-adjustment indi-
cator has been given) to make up the field width (note that a
leading zero is a flag, but an embedded zero is part of a field
width);
Precision:
An optional period, `.', followed by an optional digit string
giving a precision which specifies the number of digits to appear
after the decimal point, for e and f formats, or the maximum num-
ber of characters to be printed from a string; if the digit
string is missing, the precision is treated as zero;
Format:
A character which indicates the type of format to use (one of
diouxXfwEgGbcs).
A field width or precision may be `*' instead of a digit string. In this
case an argument supplies the field width or precision.
Examples
# Print a decimal number
$ printf "%d\n" 5
5
# Print as float (default 6 decimal places)
$ printf "%f\n" 5
5.000000
# Using \n to start a new line:
$ printf "Two separate\nlines\n"
Two separate
lines
# Print decimal numbers interspersed with text
$ printf "There are %d orders valued at over %d euros.\n" 64 1500
There are 64 orders valued at over 1500 euros.
# Print text interspersed with command results
printf "This is `uname -s` running on a `uname -m` processor.\n\n"
# Convert a hex number to decimal
$ printf "%d\n " 0xF
15
# Convert a decimal number to Hex
$ printf "0x%X\n " 15
0xF
# Convert a decimal number to Octal
$ printf "0%o\n " 8
010
In no case does a non-existent or small field width cause truncation of a field; padding takes place only if the specified field width exceeds the actual width.
Since the floating point numbers are translated from ASCII to floating- point and then back again, floating-point precision may be lost. Parsing of - arguments is also somewhat different from printf(3), where unknown arguments are simply printed instead of being flagged as errors.
Exits 0 on success, 1 on failure.
"I really look with commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens who, reading newspapers, live and die in the belief that they have known something of what has been passing in their time" - H. Truman
Related commands:
echo - Display message on screen
lpr - Print files
Equivalent BASH command:
printf - Format and print data.
