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)

       %%     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/coreutils/>
       General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
       Report printf translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright  ©  2013  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 redistribute it.  There is NO  WARRANTY,
       to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO

       printf(3)

       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 coreutils 'printf invocation'

       should give you access to the complete manual.