Provided by: rust-coreutils_0.0.14-3_amd64 
NAME
printf - manual page for printf 0.0.14
DESCRIPTION
/build/rust-coreutils-mQkL0l/rust-coreutils-0.0.14/debian/tmp/usr/bin/printf 0.0.14 Print
output based off of the format string and proceeding arguments.
USAGE:
/build/rust-coreutils-mQkL0l/rust-coreutils-0.0.14/debian/tmp/usr/bin/printf
FORMATSTRING [ARGUMENT]...
ARGS:
<FORMATSTRING> <ARGUMENT>...
OPTIONS:
--help Print help information
--version
Print version information
basic anonymous string templating:
prints format string at least once, repeating as long as there are remaining arguments
output prints escaped literals in the format string as character literals output replaces
anonymous fields with the next unused argument, formatted according to the field.
Prints the , replacing escaped character sequences with character literals
and substitution field sequences with passed arguments
literally, with the exception of the below
escaped character sequences, and the substitution sequences described further down.
ESCAPE SEQUENCES
The following escape sequences, organized here in alphabetical order, will print the
corresponding character literal:
" double quote
\\ backslash
\a alert (BEL)
\b backspace
\c End-of-Input
\e escape
\f form feed
\n new line
\r carriage return
\t horizontal tab
\v vertical tab
\NNN byte with value expressed in octal value NNN (1 to 3 digits)
values greater than 256 will be treated
\xHH byte with value expressed in hexadecimal value NN (1 to 2 digits)
\uHHHH Unicode (IEC 10646) character with value expressed in hexadecimal value HHHH (4
digits)
\uHHHH Unicode character with value expressed in hexadecimal value HHHH (8 digits)
%% a single %
SUBSTITUTIONS
SUBSTITUTION QUICK REFERENCE
Fields
%s - string %b - string parsed for literals
second parameter is max length
%c - char
no second parameter
%i or %d - 64-bit integer %u - 64 bit unsigned integer %x or %X - 64-bit unsigned integer
as hex %o - 64-bit unsigned integer as octal
second parameter is min-width, integer
output below that width is padded with leading zeroes
%f or %F - decimal floating point value %e or %E - scientific notation floating point
value %g or %G - shorter of specially interpreted decimal or SciNote floating point value.
second parameter is
-max places after decimal point for floating point output
-max number of significant digits for scientific notation output
parameterizing fields
examples:
printf '%4.3i' 7 has a first parameter of 4
and a second parameter of 3
will result in ' 007'
printf '%.1s' abcde has no first parameter
and a second parameter of 1
will result in 'a'
printf '%4c' q has a first parameter of 4
and no second parameter
will result in ' q'
The first parameter of a field is the minimum width to pad the output to
if the output is less than this absolute value of this width, it will be padded
with leading spaces, or, if the argument is negative, with trailing spaces. the
default is zero.
The second parameter of a field is particular to the output field type.
defaults can be found in the full substitution help below
special prefixes to numeric arguments
0 (e.g. 010) - interpret argument as octal (integer output fields only) 0x (e.g.
0xABC) - interpret argument as hex (numeric output fields only) ' (e.g. 'a) -
interpret argument as a character constant
HOW TO USE SUBSTITUTIONS
Substitutions are used to pass additional argument(s) into the FORMAT string, to be
formatted a particular way. E.g.
printf 'the letter %X comes before the letter %X' 10 11
will print
'the letter A comes before the letter B'
because the substitution field %X means 'take an integer argument and write it as a
hexadecimal number'
Passing more arguments than are in the format string will cause the format string to be
repeated for the remaining substitutions
printf 'it is %i F in %s
' 22 Portland 25 Boston 27 New York
will print
'it is 22 F in Portland
it is 25 F in Boston it is 27 F in Boston
'
If a format string is printed but there are less arguments remaining
than there are substitution fields, substitution fields without an argument will
default to empty strings, or for numeric fields the value 0
AVAILABLE SUBSTITUTIONS
This program, like GNU coreutils printf, interprets a modified subset of the POSIX C
printf spec, a quick reference to substitutions is below.
STRING SUBSTITUTIONS
All string fields have a 'max width' parameter %.3s means 'print no more than three
characters of the original input'
%s - string
%b - escaped string - the string will be checked for any escaped literals from
the escaped literal list above, and translate them to literal characters. e.g. \n
will be transformed into a newline character.
One special rule about %b mode is that octal literals are interpreted differently
In arguments passed by %b, pass octal-interpreted literals must be in the form of
\0NNN instead of \NNN. (Although, for legacy reasons, octal literals in the form of
\NNN will still be interpreted and not throw a warning, you will have problems if
you use this for a literal whose code begins with zero, as it will be viewed as in
\0NNN form.)
CHAR SUBSTITUTIONS
The character field does not have a secondary parameter.
%c - a single character
INTEGER SUBSTITUTIONS
All integer fields have a 'pad with zero' parameter %.4i means an integer which if
it is less than 4 digits in length, is padded with leading zeros until it is 4
digits in length.
%d or %i - 64-bit integer
%u - 64 bit unsigned integer
%x or %X - 64 bit unsigned integer printed in Hexadecimal (base 16)
%X instead of %x means to use uppercase letters for 'a' through 'f'
%o - 64 bit unsigned integer printed in octal (base 8)
FLOATING POINT SUBSTITUTIONS
All floating point fields have a 'max decimal places / max significant digits'
parameter %.10f means a decimal floating point with 7 decimal places past 0 %.10e
means a scientific notation number with 10 significant digits %.10g means the same
behavior for decimal and Sci. Note, respectively, and provides the shorter
of each's output.
Like with GNU coreutils, the value after the decimal point is these outputs is
parsed as a double first before being rendered to text. For both implementations do
not expect meaningful precision past the 18th decimal place. When using a number of
decimal places that is 18 or higher, you can expect variation in output between GNU
coreutils printf and this printf at the 18th decimal place of +/- 1
%f - floating point value presented in decimal, truncated and displayed to 6
decimal places by
default. There is not past-double behavior parity with Coreutils printf, values are
not estimated or adjusted beyond input values.
%e or %E - floating point value presented in scientific notation
7 significant digits by default %E means use to use uppercase E for the mantissa.
%g or %G - floating point value presented in the shorter of decimal and scientific
notation
behaves differently from %f and %E, please see posix printf spec for full details,
some examples of different behavior:
Sci Note has 6 significant digits by default Trailing zeroes are removed Instead of
being truncated, digit after last is rounded
Like other behavior in this utility, the design choices of floating point
behavior in this utility is selected to reproduce in exact the behavior of GNU
coreutils' printf from an inputs and outputs standpoint.
USING PARAMETERS
Most substitution fields can be parameterized using up to 2 numbers that can be
passed to the field, between the % sign and the field letter.
The 1st parameter always indicates the minimum width of output, it is useful for
creating
columnar output. Any output that would be less than this minimum width is padded
with leading spaces
The 2nd parameter is proceeded by a dot. You do not have to use parameters
SPECIAL FORMS OF INPUT
For numeric input, the following additional forms of input are accepted besides
decimal:
Octal (only with integer): if the argument begins with a 0 the proceeding
characters
will be interpreted as octal (base 8) for integer fields
Hexadecimal: if the argument begins with 0x the proceeding characters will be
interpreted
will be interpreted as hex (base 16) for any numeric fields for float fields,
hexadecimal input results in a precision limit (in converting input past the
decimal point) of 10^-15
Character Constant: if the argument begins with a single quote character, the first
byte
of the next character will be interpreted as an 8-bit unsigned integer. If there
are additional bytes, they will throw an error (unless the environment variable
POSIXLY_CORRECT is set)
WRITTEN BY :
Nathan E. Ross, et al. for the uutils project
MORE INFO :
https://github.com/uutils/coreutils
COPYRIGHT :
Copyright 2015 uutils project. Licensed under the MIT License, please see LICENSE
file for details
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.