printf

printf formats [strings ]

Print strings using the specified formats . formats can be ordinary text characters, C-language escape characters, printf (3S) format conversion specifiers, or, more commonly, a set of conversion arguments listed next.

Arguments

%b

Process a string argument for backslash escapes (not in printf (3S)). See the description of allowed escapes under echo .

%s

Print the next string .

% n $s

Print the n th string .

% [- ]m [. n ]s

Print the next string , using a field that is m characters wide. Optionally limit the field to print only the first n characters of string . Strings are right-adjusted unless the left-adjustment flag - is specified.

Examples

$ printf '%s %s\n' "My files are in" $HOME


My files are in /home/arnold
$ printf '%-25.15s %s\n' "My files are in" $HOME


My files are in           /home/arnold