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

       %q     ARGUMENT is printed in a format  that  can  be  reused  as  shell  input,  escaping
              non-printable characters with the proposed POSIX $'' syntax.

       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

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

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2017 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)

       Full documentation at: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/printf>
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) printf invocation'