Printf (Unix)

Short description: Standard UNIX utility

printf

Developer(s)| Various open-source and commercial developers
Operating system| Unix and Unix-like
Platform| Cross-platform
Type| Command
License| coreutils: GPLv3+[1]

In Unix and Unix-like operating systems, printf ("print formatted") is a shell builtin (and utility program[2]) that formats and prints data.

The command accepts a printf format string, which specifies methods for formatting items, and a list of items to be formatted. Named historically after the intention of printing to a printer, it now actually outputs to stdout.[3] Characters in the format string are copied to the output or, if a `%` is encountered, are used to format an item. In addition to the standard formats, `%b` causes printf to expand backslash escape sequences (for example `\n` for newline), and `%q` outputs an item that can be used as shell input.[3] The format string is reused if there are more items than format specs. Unused format specs provide a zero value or null string.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Examples
* 3 See also
* 4 References
* 5 External links

## History

`printf` is part of the X/Open Portability Guide since issue 4 of 1992. It was inherited into the first version of POSIX.1 and the Single Unix Specification.[4] It first appeared in 4.3BSD-Reno.[5]

The version of `printf` bundled in GNU coreutils was written by David MacKenzie. It has an extension %q for escaping strings in POSIX-shell format.[3]

## Examples

$ for NUMBER in  4 6 8 9 10
> do printf " >> d %d<< \n" $NUMBER $RANDOM
> done
>> 004 26305<<
>> 006 6687<<
>> 008 20170<<
>> 009 28322<<
>> 010 4400<<

This will print a directory listing, emulating 'ls':

printf "%s\n" *

## See also

* printf, the C function

## References

1. ↑ "printf(1): format/print data - Linux man page". https://linux.die.net/man/1/printf.
2. ↑ "GNU Coreutils". https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#printf-invocation.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 `printf(1)` – Linux User's Manual – User Commands
4. ↑ `printf` – Commands & Utilities Reference, The Single UNIX Specification, Issue 7 from The Open Group
5. ↑ `printf(1)` – FreeBSD General Commands Manual

## External links

* v
* t
* e

Unix command-line interface programs and shell builtins

File system|

* cat
* chmod
* chown
* chgrp
* cksum
* cmp
* cp
* dd
* du
* df
* file
* fuser
* ln
* ls
* mkdir
* mv
* pax
* pwd
* rm
* rmdir
* split
* tee
* touch
* type
* umask

Processes|

* at
* bg
* crontab
* fg
* kill
* nice
* ps
* time

User environment|

* env
* exit
* logname
* mesg
* talk
* tput
* uname
* who
* write

Text processing|

* awk
* basename
* comm
* csplit
* cut
* diff
* dirname
* ed
* ex
* fold
* head
* iconv
* join
* m4
* more
* nl
* paste
* patch
* printf
* sed
* sort
* strings
* tail
* tr
* uniq
* vi
* wc
* xargs

Shell builtins|

* alias
* cd
* echo
* test
* unset
* wait

Searching|

* find
* grep

Documentation|

* man

Software development|

* ar
* ctags
* lex
* make
* nm
* strip
* yacc

Miscellaneous|

* bc
* cal
* expr
* lp
* od
* sleep
* true and false

* Categories
* Standard Unix programs
* Unix SUS2008 utilities
* List

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