Manual: gnuprintf

PRINTF(1)						User Commands						   PRINTF(1)

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 should have a leading 0 like
	      \0NNN

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

       and  all	 C  format  specifications  ending with one of diouxXfeEgGcs, with ARGUMENTs converted to proper type first.
       Variable widths are handled.

       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: 
       Report any translation bugs to 

SEE ALSO
       printf(3)

       Full documentation 
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) printf invocation'

       Packaged by Ubuntu (9.7-3ubuntu2)
       Copyright © 2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
       License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later .
       This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
       There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

GNU coreutils 9.7					January 2026						   PRINTF(1)