xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/printf/printf.1 (revision 9ee40678bbdcedc6a3ac1e311abe740018911cf1)
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35.\"	@(#)printf.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
36.\"
37.Dd June 6, 1993
38.Dt PRINTF 1
39.Os
40.Sh NAME
41.Nm printf
42.Nd formatted output
43.Sh SYNOPSIS
44.Nm printf format
45.Op arguments  ...
46.Sh DESCRIPTION
47.Nm Printf
48formats and prints its arguments, after the first, under control
49of the
50.Ar format  .
51The
52.Ar format
53is a character string which contains three types of objects: plain characters,
54which are simply copied to standard output, character escape sequences which
55are converted and copied to the standard output, and format specifications,
56each of which causes printing of the next successive
57.Ar argument  .
58.Pp
59The
60.Ar arguments
61after the first are treated as strings if the corresponding format is
62either
63.Cm c
64or
65.Cm s ;
66otherwise it is evaluated as a C constant, with the following extensions:
67.Pp
68.Bl -bullet -offset indent -compact
69.It
70A leading plus or minus sign is allowed.
71.It
72If the leading character is a single or double quote, or not a digit,
73plus, or minus sign, the value is the ASCII code of the next character.
74.El
75.Pp
76The format string is reused as often as necessary to satisfy the
77.Ar arguments  .
78Any extra format specifications are evaluated with zero or the null
79string.
80.Pp
81Character escape sequences are in backslash notation as defined in the
82draft proposed
83.Tn ANSI C
84Standard
85.Tn X3J11 .
86The characters and their meanings
87are as follows:
88.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent
89.It Cm \ea
90Write a <bell> character.
91.It Cm \eb
92Write a <backspace> character.
93.It Cm \ef
94Write a <form-feed> character.
95.It Cm \en
96Write a <new-line> character.
97.It Cm \er
98Write a <carriage return> character.
99.It Cm \et
100Write a <tab> character.
101.It Cm \ev
102Write a <vertical tab> character.
103.It Cm \e\'
104Write a <single quote> character.
105.It Cm \e\e
106Write a backslash character.
107.It Cm \e Ns Ar num
108Write an 8-bit character whose
109.Tn ASCII
110value is the 1-, 2-, or 3-digit
111octal number
112.Ar num .
113.El
114.Pp
115Each format specification is introduced by the percent character
116(``%'').
117The remainder of the format specification includes,
118in the following order:
119.Bl -tag -width Ds
120.It "Zero or more of the following flags:"
121.Bl -tag -width Ds
122.It Cm #
123A `#' character
124specifying that the value should be printed in an ``alternate form''.
125For
126.Cm c  ,
127.Cm d ,
128and
129.Cm s  ,
130formats, this option has no effect.  For the
131.Cm o
132formats the precision of the number is increased to force the first
133character of the output string to a zero.  For the
134.Cm x
135.Pq Cm X
136format, a non-zero result has the string
137.Li 0x
138.Pq Li 0X
139prepended to it.  For
140.Cm e  ,
141.Cm E ,
142.Cm f  ,
143.Cm g ,
144and
145.Cm G  ,
146formats, the result will always contain a decimal point, even if no
147digits follow the point (normally, a decimal point only appears in the
148results of those formats if a digit follows the decimal point).  For
149.Cm g
150and
151.Cm G
152formats, trailing zeros are not removed from the result as they
153would otherwise be;
154.It Cm \&\-
155A minus sign `\-' which specifies
156.Em left adjustment
157of the output in the indicated field;
158.It Cm \&+
159A `+' character specifying that there should always be
160a sign placed before the number when using signed formats.
161.It Sq \&\ \&
162A space specifying that a blank should be left before a positive number
163for a signed format.  A `+' overrides a space if both are used;
164.It Cm \&0
165A zero `0' character indicating that zero-padding should be used
166rather than blank-padding.  A `\-' overrides a `0' if both are used;
167.El
168.It "Field Width:"
169An optional digit string specifying a
170.Em field width ;
171if the output string has fewer characters than the field width it will
172be blank-padded on the left (or right, if the left-adjustment indicator
173has been given) to make up the field width (note that a leading zero
174is a flag, but an embedded zero is part of a field width);
175.It Precision:
176An optional period,
177.Sq Cm \&.\& ,
178followed by an optional digit string giving a
179.Em precision
180which specifies the number of digits to appear after the decimal point,
181for
182.Cm e
183and
184.Cm f
185formats, or the maximum number of characters to be printed
186from a string; if the digit string is missing, the precision is treated
187as zero;
188.It Format:
189A character which indicates the type of format to use (one of
190.Cm diouxXfwEgGcs ) .
191.El
192.Pp
193A field width or precision may be
194.Sq Cm \&*
195instead of a digit string.
196In this case an
197.Ar argument
198supplies the field width or precision.
199.Pp
200The format characters and their meanings are:
201.Bl -tag -width Fl
202.It Cm diouXx
203The
204.Ar argument
205is printed as a signed decimal (d or i), unsigned octal, unsigned decimal,
206or unsigned hexadecimal (X or x), respectively.
207.It Cm f
208The
209.Ar argument
210is printed in the style `[\-]ddd.ddd' where the number of d's
211after the decimal point is equal to the precision specification for
212the argument.
213If the precision is missing, 6 digits are given; if the precision
214is explicitly 0, no digits and no decimal point are printed.
215.It Cm eE
216The
217.Ar argument
218is printed in the style
219.Cm e
220.`[-]d.ddd Ns \(+-dd\'
221where there
222is one digit before the decimal point and the number after is equal to
223the precision specification for the argument; when the precision is
224missing, 6 digits are produced.
225An upper-case E is used for an `E' format.
226.It Cm gG
227The
228.Ar argument
229is printed in style
230.Cm f
231or in style
232.Cm e
233.Pq Cm E
234whichever gives full precision in minimum space.
235.It Cm c
236The first character of
237.Ar argument
238is printed.
239.It Cm s
240Characters from the string
241.Ar argument
242are printed until the end is reached or until the number of characters
243indicated by the precision specification is reached; however if the
244precision is 0 or missing, all characters in the string are printed.
245.It Cm \&%
246Print a `%'; no argument is used.
247.El
248.Pp
249In no case does a non-existent or small field width cause truncation of
250a field; padding takes place only if the specified field width exceeds
251the actual width.
252.Sh RETURN VALUES
253.Nm Printf
254exits 0 on success, 1 on failure.
255.Sh SEE ALSO
256.Xr printf 3
257.Sh HISTORY
258The
259.Nm printf
260command appeared in
261.Bx 4.3 Reno .
262It is modeled
263after the standard library function,
264.Xr printf 3 .
265.Sh BUGS
266Since the floating point numbers are translated from
267.Tn ASCII
268to floating-point and
269then back again, floating-point precision may be lost.
270.Pp
271.Tn ANSI
272hexadecimal character constants were deliberately not provided.
273