Linux printf Guide

Linux printf Guide

Complete beginner-friendly guide to printf on Linux, covering Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other distributions including formatted output, string formatting, and output control.

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Table of Contents

1. printf Basics
2. Format Specifiers
3. String Formatting
4. Numeric Formatting
5. Troubleshooting

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printf Basics

Formatted Output

Basic usage:

# Formatted output
printf "Hello %s\n" "World"

# Output: Hello World

Format String

Format and arguments:

# Format string with arguments
printf "Name: %s, Age: %d\n" "John" 30

# Output: Name: John, Age: 30

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Format Specifiers

Common Specifiers

Basic formats:

# %s = string
printf "%s\n" "Hello"

# %d = decimal integer
printf "%d\n" 42

# %f = floating point
printf "%f\n" 3.14

Width and Precision

Formatting:

# Width
printf "%10s\n" "Hello"

# Precision
printf "%.2f\n" 3.14159

# Width and precision
printf "%10.2f\n" 3.14159

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String Formatting

String Output

String formats:

# Basic string
printf "%s\n" "Hello World"

# Left align
printf "%-20s\n" "Hello"

# Right align
printf "%20s\n" "Hello"

Padding

String padding:

# Zero padding
printf "%05d\n" 42

# Output: 00042

# Space padding
printf "%5d\n" 42

# Output:    42

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Numeric Formatting

Integer Formats

Integer types:

# Decimal
printf "%d\n" 42

# Octal
printf "%o\n" 42

# Hexadecimal
printf "%x\n" 42

# Uppercase hex
printf "%X\n" 42

Floating Point

Float formats:

# Default float
printf "%f\n" 3.14

# Scientific notation
printf "%e\n" 3.14

# Shorter of %f or %e
printf "%g\n" 3.14

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Troubleshooting

printf Not Found

Check installation:

# printf is part of coreutils
# Usually pre-installed

# Check printf
which printf

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Summary

This guide covered printf usage, formatted output, and string formatting for Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other distributions.

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Next Steps

• echo Guide - Text output
• Bash Scripting Guide - Scripting basics
• Text Processing - Text manipulation
• printf Documentation: man printf

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This guide covers Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other Linux distributions. For distribution-specific details, refer to your distribution's documentation.