Name

printf

Synopsis

printf string [arguments]

Description

Format a string like the C library printf function. Standard percent-sign formats are recognized in string, such as %i for integer. Escape sequences such as \n can be included in string and are automatically recognized; if you want to include them in arguments, specify a string of %b. You can escape characters in arguments to output a string suitable for input to other commands by specifying a string of %q.

Examples

$ printf "Previous command: %i\n" "$(($HISTCMD-1))"
Previous command: 534
$ echo $PAGER
less -E
$ printf "%q\n" "\t$PAGER"
\\tless\ -E

The last command probably would be used to record a setting in a file where it could be read and assigned by another shell script.

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