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
Report bugs to: bug-coreutils@gnu.org
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2026 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'