PRINTF(1) UNIX Reference Manual PRINTF(1) NNAAMMEE pprriinnttff - formatted output SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS pprriinnttff ffoorrmmaatt [arguments ...] DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN PPrriinnttff formats and prints its arguments, after the first, under control of the _f_o_r_m_a_t. The _f_o_r_m_a_t is a character string which contains three types of objects: plain characters, which are simply copied to standard output, character escape sequences which are converted and copied to the standard output, and format specifications, each of which causes printing of the next successive _a_r_g_u_m_e_n_t. The _a_r_g_u_m_e_n_t_s after the first are treated as strings if the corresponding format is either cc or ss; otherwise it is evaluated as a C constant, with the following extensions: A leading plus or minus sign is allowed. If the leading character is a single or double quote, or not a di- git, plus, or minus sign, the value is the ASCII code of the next character. The format string is reused as often as necessary to satisfy the _a_r_g_u_m_e_n_t_s. Any extra format specifications are evaluated with zero or the null string. Character escape sequences are in backslash notation as defined in the draft proposed ANSI C Standard X3J11. The characters and their meanings are as follows: \\aa Write a <bell> character. \\bb Write a <backspace> character. \\ff Write a <form-feed> character. \\nn Write a <new-line> character. \\rr Write a <carriage return> character. \\tt Write a <tab> character. \\vv Write a <vertical tab> character. \\'' Write a <single quote> character. \\\\ Write a backslash character. \\_n_u_m Write an 8-bit character whose ASCII value is the 1-, 2-, or 3- digit octal number _n_u_m. Each format specification is introduced by the percent character (``%''). The remainder of the format specification includes, in the following ord- er: Zero or more of the following flags: ## A `#' character specifying that the value should be printed in an ``alternate form''. For cc, dd, and ss, formats, this op- tion has no effect. For the oo formats the precision of the number is increased to force the first character of the out- put string to a zero. For the xx (XX) format, a non-zero result has the string 0x (0X) prepended to it. For ee, EE, ff, gg, and GG, formats, the result will always contain a decimal point, even if no digits follow the point (normally, a de- cimal point only appears in the results of those formats if a digit follows the decimal point). For gg and GG formats, trailing zeros are not removed from the result as they would otherwise be; -- A minus sign `-' which specifies _l_e_f_t _a_d_j_u_s_t_m_e_n_t of the out- put in the indicated field; ++ A `+' character specifying that there should always be a sign placed before the number when using signed formats. ` ' A space specifying that a blank should be left before a positive number for a signed format. A `+' overrides a space if both are used; 00 A zero `0' character indicating that zero-padding should be used rather than blank-padding. A `-' overrides a `0' if both are used; Field Width: An optional digit string specifying a _f_i_e_l_d _w_i_d_t_h; if the output string has fewer characters than the field width it will be blank- padded on the left (or right, if the left-adjustment indicator has been given) to make up the field width (note that a leading zero is a flag, but an embedded zero is part of a field width); Precision: An optional period, `..', followed by an optional digit string giv- ing a _p_r_e_c_i_s_i_o_n which specifies the number of digits to appear after the decimal point, for ee and ff formats, or the maximum number of characters to be printed from a string; if the digit string is missing, the precision is treated as zero; Format: A character which indicates the type of format to use (one of ddiioouuxxXXffwwEEggGGccss). A field width or precision may be `**' instead of a digit string. In this case an _a_r_g_u_m_e_n_t supplies the field width or precision. The format characters and their meanings are: ddiioouuXXxx The _a_r_g_u_m_e_n_t is printed as a signed decimal (d or i), unsigned decimal, unsigned octal, or unsigned hexadecimal (X or x), respectively. ff The _a_r_g_u_m_e_n_t is printed in the style `[-]ddd.ddd' where the number of d's after the decimal point is equal to the precision specification for the argument. If the precision is missing, 6 digits are given; if the precision is explicitly 0, no digits and no decimal point are printed. eeEE The _a_r_g_u_m_e_n_t is printed in the style `[-]d.dddee+_dd' where there is one digit before the decimal point and the number after is equal to the precision specification for the argument; when the precision is missing, 6 digits are produced. An upper-case E is used for an `E' format. ggGG The _a_r_g_u_m_e_n_t is printed in style ff or in style ee (EE) whichever gives full precision in minimum space. cc The first character of _a_r_g_u_m_e_n_t is printed. ss Characters from the string _a_r_g_u_m_e_n_t are printed until the end is reached or until the number of characters indicated by the precision specification is reached; however if the precision is 0 or missing, all characters in the string are printed. %% Print a `%'; no argument is used. In no case does a non-existent or small field width cause truncation of a field; padding takes place only if the specified field width exceeds the actual width. RREETTUURRNN VVAALLUUEE PPrriinnttff exits 0 on success, 1 on failure. SSEEEE AALLSSOO printf(3) HHIISSTTOORRYY PPrriinnttff as a command, appears in 4.3+Reno BSD. It is modeled after the standard library function, printf(3). BBUUGGSS Since the number is translated from ASCII to floating-point, and then back again, floating-point precision may be lost. ANSI hexadecimal character constants were deliberately not provided.