Printf (Unix)

In Unix and Unix-like operating systems, printf ("print formatted") is a shell builtin (and utility program) that formats and prints data.
The command accepts a printf format string, which specifies methods for formatting items, and a list of items to be formatted. Named historically after the intention of printing to a printer, it now actually outputs to stdout. Characters in the format string are copied to the output or, if a codice_1 is encountered, are used to format an item. In addition to the standard formats, codice_2 causes printf to expand backslash escape sequences (for example codice_3 for newline), and codice_4 outputs an item that can be used as shell input. The format string is reused if there are more items than format specs. Unused format specs provide a zero value or null string.
History.
 is part of the X/Open Portability Guide since issue 4 of 1992. It was inherited into the first version of POSIX.1 and the Single Unix Specification. It first appeared in 4.3BSD-Reno.
The version of codice_5 bundled in GNU coreutils was written by David MacKenzie. It has an extension for escaping strings in POSIX-shell format.
Examples.
$ for NUMBER in 4 6 8 9 10
> do printf " » %03d %d« \n" $NUMBER $RANDOM
> done
 » 004 26305«
 » 006 6687«
 » 008 20170«
 » 009 28322«
 » 010 4400«
This will print a directory listing, emulating 'ls': 