Provided by: enum_1.1-1_amd64 
NAME
enum - seq- and jot-like enumerator
SYNOPSIS
GENERAL
enum [ OPTIONS ] LEFT .. COUNTx STEP .. RIGHT
SHORTCUTS
enum [ OPTIONS ] LEFT STEP RIGHT
enum [ OPTIONS ] LEFT RIGHT
enum [ OPTIONS ] RIGHT
...
DESCRIPTION
enum enumerates values (numbers) from LEFT to RIGHT adding/subtracting STEP each time. If STEP is not
provided a value is implied. No more than COUNT values are printed. Before printing, values are passed
through a formatter. Please see OPTIONS for details on controlling the formatter or EXAMPLES for use
cases.
Further enum usage details are covered in USAGE IN DETAIL.
EXAMPLES
USE IN FOR-LOOPS
for i in $(enum -e 1 20); do
touch file_${i}
done
USE FOR RANDOM NUMBERS
number=$(enum --random 3 .. 10)
instead of native Bash like
f() { min=$1; max=$2; echo $((RANDOM * (max - min + 1) / 32767 + min)); }
number=$(f 3 10)
SHOWING AN ASCII TABLE
enum -f '[%3i] "%c"' 0 127
OPTIONS
RANDOM MODE
-r, --random
Produces random numbers (potentially with duplicates) instead of monotonic sequences.
-i, --seed=NUMBER
Pass NUMBER as initializer to the random number generator. By default, the RNG is initialized from
the current time and the process ID of the running instance of enum.
FORMATTING
-b, --dumb=TEXT
Overrides the output format to TEXT without interpolating placeholders. For instance, enum -b "foo %
10" 3x produces the string "foo % 10" three times.
-c, --characters
Overrides the output format to %c producing characters. For example, enum -c 65 67 produces the
letters "A", "B" and "C".
-e, --equal-width
Equalize width by padding with leading zeroes. NOTE: In the case of mixed negative and non-negative
numbers (e.g. with enum -e — -10 1), non-negative values will compensate for the lack of a leading
minus with an extra zero to be of equal width.
-f, --format=FORMAT
Overrides the default output format with FORMAT. For details on allowed formats please see printf(3).
FORMAT is subject to processing of C escape sequences (e.g. "\n" makes a newline). If FORMAT does not
contain any placeholders, enum will print FORMAT repeatedly. In contrast, jot would have appended the
number’s value instead. To make numbers appear at the end with enum, adjust FORMAT appropriately.
-l, --line
Shortcut for "-s ' '" which means having a space instead of a newline as separator.
-n, --omit-newline
Omits the terminating string (defaults to newline) from output, i.e. it’s a shortcut to "-t ''".
-p, --precision=COUNT
Overrides automatic selection of precision to print COUNT decimal places, e.g. "0.100" for COUNT = 3.
By default, the number of digits to print is computed from the arguments given and the (given or
computed) step size.
-s, --separator=TEXT
Overrides the separator that is printed between values. By default, values are separated by a
newline. TEXT is subject to processing of C escape sequences (e.g. "\n" makes a newline).
-t, --terminator=TEXT
Overrides the terminator that is printed in the very end. Default is a newline. TEXT is subject to
processing of C escape sequences (e.g. "\n" makes a newline).
-w, --word=FORMAT
Alias for --format, for compatibility with jot. For GNU seq’s -w meaning --equal-width, see -e.
-z, --zero, --null
Print null bytes as separator, not a newline.
OTHER
-h, --help
Outputs usage information and exits with code 0 (success).
-V, --version
Displays version information and exits with code 0 (success).
USAGE IN DETAIL
ARGUMENTS
The logic of enum's command line parameters is:
enum [ OPTIONS ] LEFT .. COUNTx STEP .. RIGHT
Four arguments are involved:
• LEFT, the value to start enumeration with
• COUNT, the (maximum) number of values to produce
• STEP, the gap from one value to another
• RIGHT, the value to stop enumeration at (in some cases before)
Not all four arguments are needed, though specifying all four is possible. For a list of all valid
combinations see VALID COMBINATIONS below. Details on derivation of defaults are addressed in DERIVATION
OF DEFAULTS.
VALID COMBINATIONS
With four arguments:
• enum LEFT .. COUNTx STEP .. RIGHT
With three arguments:
• enum LEFT COUNTx RIGHT
• enum LEFT .. COUNTx STEP ..
• enum .. COUNTx STEP .. RIGHT
• enum LEFT .. COUNTx .. RIGHT
• enum LEFT .. STEP .. RIGHT
• enum LEFT STEP RIGHT (for GNU seq compatibility)
With two arguments:
• enum .. COUNTx STEP ..
• enum .. COUNTx .. RIGHT
• enum COUNTx .. RIGHT
• enum .. STEP .. RIGHT
• enum LEFT .. COUNTx ..
• enum LEFT .. STEP ..
• enum LEFT .. RIGHT
• enum LEFT RIGHT (for GNU seq compatibility)
With one argument:
• enum .. STEP ..
• enum .. COUNTx ..
• enum .. RIGHT
• enum RIGHT (for GNU seq compatibility)
• enum LEFT ..
• enum COUNTx
With less than three arguments, defaults apply. Details are described in DERIVATION OF DEFAULTS below.
Technically, more use cases are possible. For instance, COUNTx STEP .. RIGHT is unambiguous since the
order of arguments is fixed. Yet, "enum 3x 4 .. 10" reads a lot like "3 values between 4 and 10" while it
actually would mean "3 values up to 10 in steps of 4". In order to keep enum’s user interface as
intuitive as possible, cases which could lead to misunderstandings are not implemented.
DERIVATION OF DEFAULTS
AUTO-SELECTION OF PRECISION
enum distinguishes between "2", "2.0", "2.00" and so on:
# enum 1 2
1
2
# enum 1 2.0
1.0
1.1
[..]
1.9
2.0
Also, if the derived step has more decimal places than the specified values for LEFT and RIGHT, the
output precision will be raised to that of the step value:
# enum 1 .. 3x .. 2
1.0
1.5
2.0
A specified precision always takes precedence, though:
# enum -p 2 1 .. 3x .. 2
1.00
1.50
2.00
ARGUMENT DEFAULTS
In general, three arguments are needed; any three imply the fourth. This equation brings them
together:
LEFT + (COUNT - 1) * STEP = RIGHT
If you specify less than three of them (see VALID COMBINATIONS), the unspecified ones are derived or
set to their defaults:
• LEFT defaults to 1 (unless STEP and RIGHT are specified, see DERIVATION OF LEFT below)
• COUNT is infinity, unless it can be derived from the other three values.
• STEP defaults to 1, unless it can be derived.
• RIGHT is +/-infinity, unless it can be derived from the other three values.
Obviously, if COUNT is set to zero (0x), enum will output nothing, regardless of the other arguments.
DERIVATION OF LEFT
In general, LEFT defaults to 1:
# enum .. 3
1
2
3
If STEP and RIGHT is given, it is derived as
LEFT = RIGHT - STEP * floor(RIGHT / STEP)
# enum .. 4 .. 10
2
6
10
If, in addition to STEP and RIGHT, COUNT is given, it is derived as:
LEFT = RIGHT - (COUNT - 1) * STEP
# enum .. 2x 4 .. 10
6
10
GENERATION OF VALUES
When a custom step is requested, values are produced as follows:
value[0] = LEFT + 0 * STEP
value[1] = LEFT + 1 * STEP
..
value[i] = LEFT + i * STEP
Otherwise, to avoid imprecision adding up, values are produced as follows:
value[0] = LEFT + (RIGHT - LEFT) / (COUNT - 1) * 0
value[1] = LEFT + (RIGHT - LEFT) / (COUNT - 1) * 1
..
value[i] = LEFT + (RIGHT - LEFT) / (COUNT - 1) * i
Production stops when either COUNT values have been produced or RIGHT has been reached, whichever hits
first. When all four values are given in perfect match they hit at the same time.
RANDOM MODE
Basically, random mode differs in these regards:
• Produced values are random.
• Argument COUNT defaults to 1 (one).
• Argument LEFT (always!) defaults to 1 (one).
• Argument RIGHT is required: Random does not mix with infinity.
This section covers these differences in detail.
COUNT DEFAULTS TO 1 (ONE)
In random mode only one value is produced, by default:
# enum 1 4
1
2
3
4
# enum -r 1 4
3
By specifying COUNT you can produce more values at a time:
# enum -r 1 .. 3x .. 4
2
1
3
LEFT ALWAYS DEFAULTS TO 1 (ONE)
When you need increasing numbers up to a certain maximum (say 10), each separated by a certain step (say
4) you can let enum calculate the needed starting value for you:
# enum .. 4 .. 10
2
6
10
In random mode LEFT is never calculated and defaults to 1 (one):
# enum -r .. 5x 4 .. 10
1
1
9
1
5
RANDOM DOES NOT MIX WITH INFINITY
In general, enum supports running towards infinity:
# enum 1 .. 2.0 ..
1.0
3.0
5.0
[..]
However, in random mode enum would now produce random numbers from 1 to infinity (or a big number like
FLT_MAX from <float.h>), which we have decided against.
HISTORY
enum is a fusion of GNU seq and jot, feature-wise. At the core both tools print sequences of numbers. GNU
seq has a clean interface but very limited functionality. jot on the other hand offers more advanced
features, like producing random numbers, at the cost of a rather unfriendly interface.
With enum we try to offer a tool with the power of jot and a usable, easily memorable interface. enum is
licensed under a BSD license and written in C89 for maximum portability.
The following sections take a look at the differences in detail.
COMPARISON TO JOT
Using enum instead of jot offers two main advantages:
• improved usability and
• uniform behavior across distributions and operating systems.
As of 2010-10-03, jot implementations still differ subtly between DragonFlyBSD, FreeBSD, MirOS BSD,
NetBSD, OpenBSD, and OS X. For instance the command jot - 0 5 produces
• 6 integers from 0 to 5 on FreeBSD and OS X,
0 1 2 3 4 5
• 100 integers from 0 to 99 on NetBSD, and
0 1 2 [..] 97 98 99
• 100 integers from 0 to 5 (with consecutive duplicates) on DragonFlyBSD, MirOS BSD, and OpenBSD.
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 [..] 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Basically, the full feature set of jot plus a few enhancements is contained in enum. Names of parameters
have been retained for increased compatibility, e.g. -p 2 works with enum as it does with jot:
# jot -p 2 3
1.00
2.00
3.00
# enum -p 2 3
1.00
2.00
3.00
Please see OPTIONS above for further details.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
The extra features that enum offers over jot include:
MORE MEMORABLE COMMAND LINE USAGE
In order to produce 3 random numbers between 1 and 10 (inclusively), you would run
jot -r 3 1 10
with jot. We find these alternative calls to enum more intuitive:
enum -r 1 .. 3x .. 10
enum -r 1 3x 10
CUSTOM RESOLUTION OF RANDOM
With enum you can specify that the possible values to be randomly selected from have a particular
spacing. These two cases illustrate the difference between a gap of 2 and 3:
# enum -r 4 .. 100x 2 .. 10 | sort -u -n
4
6
8
10
# enum -r 4 .. 100x 3 .. 10 | sort -u -n
4
7
10
SUPPORT FOR SEVERAL PLACEHOLDERS IN FORMAT STRINGS
jot on DragonFlyBSD, FreeBSD, MirOS BSD, OpenBSD, and OS X:
# jot -w %g%g 3
jot: too many conversions
jot on NetBSD:
# jot -w %g%g 3
jot: unknown or invalid format `%g%g'
enum on any platform:
# enum -f %g%g 3
11
22
33
SUPPORT FOR ESCAPE SEQUENCES
None of the jot implementations we tested (DragonFlyBSD, FreeBSD, MirOS BSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and OS
X) supports escape sequences, say "\n", in FORMAT:
# jot -w '%g\x41' 1
1\x41
enum is able to unescape "\x41" properly:
# enum -w '%g\x41' 1
1A
On a side note, "\x25" produces a literal "%"; it does not make a placeholder:
# enum -w '%g \x25g' 1
1 %g
NULL BYTES AS SEPARATOR
When using format strings containing spaces, you may run into trouble in contexts like for loops or
xargs: spaces are treated as separators which breaks up your strings in pieces:
# enum -f 'sheep number %d' 2 | xargs -n 1 echo
sheep
number
1
sheep
number
2
To prevent this, you could pass --null to both enum and xargs:
# enum --null -f 'sheep number %d' 2 | xargs --null -n 1 echo
sheep number 1
sheep number 2
DIFFERENCES
HANDLING OF FORMATS WITHOUT PLACEHOLDERS
In contrast to jot, enum does not append the current value if the formatting string does not contain
a placeholder. Behavior of jot:
# jot 3 -w test_
test_1
test_2
test_3
Behavior of enum:
# enum -w test_ 3
test_
test_
test_
In order to achieve jot’s output with enum, you should manually append a placeholder:
# enum -w test_%d 3
test_1
test_2
test_3
NON-NUMBER VALUES FOR LEFT AND RIGHT
enum does not support using ASCII characters instead of their numerical values (e.g. "A" for 65) for
LEFT and RIGHT. With jot you can do:
# jot 3 A
65
66
67
Inconsistently,
# jot 3 0
0
1
2
jot does not interpret "0" as the ASCII character with code 48. We have no intention of duplicating
this mix, at the moment.
COMPARISON TO GNU SEQ
Basically, enum's usage is backwards-compatible to that of GNU seq.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
The extra features enum offers over GNU seq include:
RANDOM NUMBER MODE
enum supports output of constrained random numbers, e.g.
enum -r 4 .. 3x 2.0 .. 11
produces three (possibly duplicate) random numbers from the set {4.0, 6.0, 8.0, 10.0}.
SUPPORT FOR INVERSE ORDERING
In contrast to GNU seq, enum supports enumerating decreasing values:
# seq 3 1
# enum 3 1
3
2
1
SUPPORT FOR SEVERAL PLACEHOLDERS IN FORMAT STRINGS
# seq -f %g%g 3
seq: format `%g%g' has too many % directives
# enum -f %g%g 3
11
22
33
SUPPORT FOR ESCAPE SEQUENCES
GNU seq does not support escape sequences, say "\n", in FORMAT:
# seq -f '%g\x41' 1
1\x41
In contrast, some of the other seq implementations around do. These three behaviours can be observed
(as of 2010-10-25):
seq of Plan 9, 9base, and GNU seq:
# seq -f '%g\x41' 3
1\x41
2\x41
3\x41
seq on FreeBSD and NetBSD:
# seq -f '%g\x41' 1
1A
2A
3A
seq on DragonFlyBSD:
# seq -f '%g\x41' 1
1A3
2A3
3A3
enum unescape "\x41" to "A" as well:
# enum -f '%g\x41' 3
1A
2A
3A
On a side note, "\x25" produces a literal "%"; it does not make a placeholder:
# enum -f '%g \x25g' 1
1 %g
OMITTING FINAL NEWLINE
By specifying -n as a parameter, you can make enum omit the trailing newline.
DIFFERENCES
GNU seq’s --equal-width shortcut -w conflicts with jot’s -w word. We chose to make -e the shortcut for
--equal-width in enum, instead.
Also, while GNU seq is licensed under GPL v3 or later, enum is licensed under the New BSD license.
THANKS
Elias Pipping, Andreas Gunschl, Justin B. Rye, David Prevot, Kamil Dudka, Michael Bienia
AUTHORS
Jan Hauke Rahm <jhr@debian.org> Sebastian Pipping <sping@gentoo.org>
RESOURCES
Main web site: https://fedorahosted.org/enum/
Gitweb: http://git.fedorahosted.org/git/?p=enum.git
SEE ALSO
jot(1), seq(1), printf(3)