PRINTF(1)                User Commands                PRINTF(1)





NAME
       printf - format and print data

SYNOPSIS
       printf FORMAT [ARGUMENT]...
       printf OPTION

DESCRIPTION
       NOTE:  your  shell  may  have  its own version of printf
       which will supersede the version described here.  Please
       refer  to  your  shell's documentation for details about
       the options it supports.

       Print ARGUMENT(s) according to FORMAT.

       --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 dig-
              its)

       %%     a single %

       %b     ARGUMENT  as  a  string  with  `\' escapes inter-
              preted,

              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.

AUTHOR
       Written by David MacKenzie.

REPORTING BUGS
       Report bugs to <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
       This is free software; see the source for copying condi-
       tions.  There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABIL-
       ITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

SEE ALSO
       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

              info printf

       should give you access to the complete manual.



printf 5.3.0             November 2004                PRINTF(1)