printf(1) - man - phpMan

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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 are of
              the form \0 or \0NNN

       %q     ARGUMENT is printed in a format that can be reused as shell input, escaping non-print‐
              able 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 de‐
       scribed  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: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
       Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright © 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3  or  later
       <https://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 <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/printf>
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) printf invocation'



GNU coreutils 8.32                          January 2026                                   PRINTF(1)