printf - format and print data

SYNOPSIS

       printf format [argument...]
       printf {--help,--version}

DESCRIPTION

       This  manual  page  documents  the  GNU version of printf.
       printf prints the format string, interpreting  `%'  direc-
       tives  and  `\'  escapes in the same way as the C `printf'
       function.  The format argument is re-used as many times as
       necessary to convert all of the given arguments.

       printf interprets `\0ooo' as a an octal number (`ooo' is 0
       to 3 digits) specifying a character to print, and  `\xhhh'
       as  a hexadecimal number (`hhh' is 1 to 3 digits) specify-
       ing a character to print.  It has  an  additional  escape,
       `\c',  which  causes  printf to produce no further output,
       and an additional directive, `%b', which prints its  argu-
       ment  string with `\' escapes interpreted the way they are
       in the format string.

   OPTIONS
       When GNU printf is invoked with exactly one argument,  the
       following options are recognized:

       --help Print  a  usage message on standard output and exit
              successfully.

       --version
              Print version information on standard  output  then
              exit successfully.