What characters need to be escaped when using the printf command?
I want to clarify that I am not talking about how to escape characters on the shell level of interpretation.
As far as I can tell, only two character need to be escaped: % and
To print a literal %, you must escape it with a preceding %:
printf '%%'
To print a literal you must escape it with a preceding :
printf '\'
Are there any other instances where I would need to escape a character for it to be interpreted literally?
shell posix printf
asked Jan 16 at 4:19
Harold FischerHarold Fischer
663315
add a comment |
I want to clarify that I am not talking about how to escape characters on the shell level of interpretation.
As far as I can tell, only two character need to be escaped: % and
To print a literal %, you must escape it with a preceding %:
printf '%%'
To print a literal you must escape it with a preceding :
printf '\'
Are there any other instances where I would need to escape a character for it to be interpreted literally?
shell posix printf
asked Jan 16 at 4:19
Harold FischerHarold Fischer
663315
looks like' " ?.......... a good search engine for this kind of stuff is symbolhound.com
– jsotola
Jan 16 at 4:32
I don't want to be (too) rude, but this is really a RTFM question.
– glenn jackman
Jan 16 at 16:40
add a comment |
I want to clarify that I am not talking about how to escape characters on the shell level of interpretation.
As far as I can tell, only two character need to be escaped: % and
To print a literal %, you must escape it with a preceding %:
printf '%%'
To print a literal you must escape it with a preceding :
printf '\'
Are there any other instances where I would need to escape a character for it to be interpreted literally?
shell posix printf
asked Jan 16 at 4:19
Harold FischerHarold Fischer
663315
I want to clarify that I am not talking about how to escape characters on the shell level of interpretation.
As far as I can tell, only two character need to be escaped: % and
To print a literal %, you must escape it with a preceding %:
printf '%%'
To print a literal you must escape it with a preceding :
printf '\'
Are there any other instances where I would need to escape a character for it to be interpreted literally?
shell posix printf
shell posix printf
asked Jan 16 at 4:19
Harold FischerHarold Fischer
663315
asked Jan 16 at 4:19
Harold FischerHarold Fischer
663315
asked Jan 16 at 4:19
Harold FischerHarold Fischer
663315
asked Jan 16 at 4:19
Harold FischerHarold Fischer
663315
asked Jan 16 at 4:19
Harold FischerHarold Fischer
663315
663315
looks like' " ?.......... a good search engine for this kind of stuff is symbolhound.com
– jsotola
Jan 16 at 4:32
I don't want to be (too) rude, but this is really a RTFM question.
– glenn jackman
Jan 16 at 16:40
add a comment |
looks like' " ?.......... a good search engine for this kind of stuff is symbolhound.com
– jsotola
Jan 16 at 4:32
I don't want to be (too) rude, but this is really a RTFM question.
– glenn jackman
Jan 16 at 16:40
looks like
' " ? .......... a good search engine for this kind of stuff is symbolhound.com– jsotola
Jan 16 at 4:32
looks like
' " ? .......... a good search engine for this kind of stuff is symbolhound.com– jsotola
Jan 16 at 4:32
I don't want to be (too) rude, but this is really a RTFM question.
– glenn jackman
Jan 16 at 16:40
I don't want to be (too) rude, but this is really a RTFM question.
– glenn jackman
Jan 16 at 16:40
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
From the manual:
$ man printf
...
printf FORMAT [ARGUMENT]...
...
FORMAT controls the output as in C printf. Interpreted sequences are:
This lists several interpreted sequences. The following are those where the character itself needs to be escaped.
" double quote
\ backslash
%% a single %
I tested these three in bash, and they behaved as expected. As per man bash, this implementation of printf uses the "standard printf(1) format specifications" as above, in addition to a few more that aren't relevant here.
However, other shells such as zsh implement printf slightly differently. Here, the double quote shouldn't be escaped.
$ printf '"'
"
$ printf '"'
"
answered Jan 16 at 4:38
SparhawkSparhawk
9,52263992
Yeah, same behavior here on dash and bash. For what it's worth, the dash manual makes no mention of needing the to escape", but maybe I'm not reading in between the lines
– Harold Fischer
Jan 16 at 4:53
@HaroldFischer Presumably dash just inherits printf(1) too? I found thezshmanual a bit more opaque, so I didn't quote it here.
– Sparhawk
Jan 16 at 4:59
(edited) backslash-dquote is only needed if the format string is in dquotes, which is usually a bad idea, as then you also need to backslash backquote and (most) dollarsign, and may need to quadruple backslash if followed by a printf special.printfis builtin in bash and dash, but like all nonspecial builtins in a POSIX shell must also be present as an 'external' program.
– dave_thompson_085
Jan 16 at 5:09
@dave_thompson_085, the question does sayI want to clarify that I am not talking about how to escape characters on the shell level of interpretation.
– Sparhawk
Jan 16 at 5:10
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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active
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oldest
votes
From the manual:
$ man printf
...
printf FORMAT [ARGUMENT]...
...
FORMAT controls the output as in C printf. Interpreted sequences are:
This lists several interpreted sequences. The following are those where the character itself needs to be escaped.
" double quote
\ backslash
%% a single %
I tested these three in bash, and they behaved as expected. As per man bash, this implementation of printf uses the "standard printf(1) format specifications" as above, in addition to a few more that aren't relevant here.
However, other shells such as zsh implement printf slightly differently. Here, the double quote shouldn't be escaped.
$ printf '"'
"
$ printf '"'
"
answered Jan 16 at 4:38
SparhawkSparhawk
9,52263992
Yeah, same behavior here on dash and bash. For what it's worth, the dash manual makes no mention of needing the to escape", but maybe I'm not reading in between the lines
– Harold Fischer
Jan 16 at 4:53
@HaroldFischer Presumably dash just inherits printf(1) too? I found thezshmanual a bit more opaque, so I didn't quote it here.
– Sparhawk
Jan 16 at 4:59
(edited) backslash-dquote is only needed if the format string is in dquotes, which is usually a bad idea, as then you also need to backslash backquote and (most) dollarsign, and may need to quadruple backslash if followed by a printf special.printfis builtin in bash and dash, but like all nonspecial builtins in a POSIX shell must also be present as an 'external' program.
– dave_thompson_085
Jan 16 at 5:09
@dave_thompson_085, the question does sayI want to clarify that I am not talking about how to escape characters on the shell level of interpretation.
– Sparhawk
Jan 16 at 5:10
add a comment |
From the manual:
$ man printf
...
printf FORMAT [ARGUMENT]...
...
FORMAT controls the output as in C printf. Interpreted sequences are:
This lists several interpreted sequences. The following are those where the character itself needs to be escaped.
" double quote
\ backslash
%% a single %
I tested these three in bash, and they behaved as expected. As per man bash, this implementation of printf uses the "standard printf(1) format specifications" as above, in addition to a few more that aren't relevant here.
However, other shells such as zsh implement printf slightly differently. Here, the double quote shouldn't be escaped.
$ printf '"'
"
$ printf '"'
"
answered Jan 16 at 4:38
SparhawkSparhawk
9,52263992
Yeah, same behavior here on dash and bash. For what it's worth, the dash manual makes no mention of needing the to escape", but maybe I'm not reading in between the lines
– Harold Fischer
Jan 16 at 4:53
@HaroldFischer Presumably dash just inherits printf(1) too? I found thezshmanual a bit more opaque, so I didn't quote it here.
– Sparhawk
Jan 16 at 4:59
(edited) backslash-dquote is only needed if the format string is in dquotes, which is usually a bad idea, as then you also need to backslash backquote and (most) dollarsign, and may need to quadruple backslash if followed by a printf special.printfis builtin in bash and dash, but like all nonspecial builtins in a POSIX shell must also be present as an 'external' program.
– dave_thompson_085
Jan 16 at 5:09
@dave_thompson_085, the question does sayI want to clarify that I am not talking about how to escape characters on the shell level of interpretation.
– Sparhawk
Jan 16 at 5:10
add a comment |
From the manual:
$ man printf
...
printf FORMAT [ARGUMENT]...
...
FORMAT controls the output as in C printf. Interpreted sequences are:
This lists several interpreted sequences. The following are those where the character itself needs to be escaped.
" double quote
\ backslash
%% a single %
I tested these three in bash, and they behaved as expected. As per man bash, this implementation of printf uses the "standard printf(1) format specifications" as above, in addition to a few more that aren't relevant here.
However, other shells such as zsh implement printf slightly differently. Here, the double quote shouldn't be escaped.
$ printf '"'
"
$ printf '"'
"
answered Jan 16 at 4:38
SparhawkSparhawk
9,52263992
From the manual:
$ man printf
...
printf FORMAT [ARGUMENT]...
...
FORMAT controls the output as in C printf. Interpreted sequences are:
This lists several interpreted sequences. The following are those where the character itself needs to be escaped.
" double quote
\ backslash
%% a single %
I tested these three in bash, and they behaved as expected. As per man bash, this implementation of printf uses the "standard printf(1) format specifications" as above, in addition to a few more that aren't relevant here.
However, other shells such as zsh implement printf slightly differently. Here, the double quote shouldn't be escaped.
$ printf '"'
"
$ printf '"'
"
answered Jan 16 at 4:38
SparhawkSparhawk
9,52263992
edited Jan 16 at 4:46
answered Jan 16 at 4:38
SparhawkSparhawk
9,52263992
answered Jan 16 at 4:38
SparhawkSparhawk
9,52263992
answered Jan 16 at 4:38
SparhawkSparhawk
9,52263992
9,52263992
Yeah, same behavior here on dash and bash. For what it's worth, the dash manual makes no mention of needing the to escape", but maybe I'm not reading in between the lines
– Harold Fischer
Jan 16 at 4:53
@HaroldFischer Presumably dash just inherits printf(1) too? I found thezshmanual a bit more opaque, so I didn't quote it here.
– Sparhawk
Jan 16 at 4:59
(edited) backslash-dquote is only needed if the format string is in dquotes, which is usually a bad idea, as then you also need to backslash backquote and (most) dollarsign, and may need to quadruple backslash if followed by a printf special.printfis builtin in bash and dash, but like all nonspecial builtins in a POSIX shell must also be present as an 'external' program.
– dave_thompson_085
Jan 16 at 5:09
@dave_thompson_085, the question does sayI want to clarify that I am not talking about how to escape characters on the shell level of interpretation.
– Sparhawk
Jan 16 at 5:10
add a comment |
Yeah, same behavior here on dash and bash. For what it's worth, the dash manual makes no mention of needing the to escape", but maybe I'm not reading in between the lines
– Harold Fischer
Jan 16 at 4:53
@HaroldFischer Presumably dash just inherits printf(1) too? I found thezshmanual a bit more opaque, so I didn't quote it here.
– Sparhawk
Jan 16 at 4:59
(edited) backslash-dquote is only needed if the format string is in dquotes, which is usually a bad idea, as then you also need to backslash backquote and (most) dollarsign, and may need to quadruple backslash if followed by a printf special.printfis builtin in bash and dash, but like all nonspecial builtins in a POSIX shell must also be present as an 'external' program.
– dave_thompson_085
Jan 16 at 5:09
@dave_thompson_085, the question does sayI want to clarify that I am not talking about how to escape characters on the shell level of interpretation.
– Sparhawk
Jan 16 at 5:10
Yeah, same behavior here on dash and bash. For what it's worth, the dash manual makes no mention of needing the to escape
", but maybe I'm not reading in between the lines– Harold Fischer
Jan 16 at 4:53
Yeah, same behavior here on dash and bash. For what it's worth, the dash manual makes no mention of needing the to escape
", but maybe I'm not reading in between the lines– Harold Fischer
Jan 16 at 4:53
@HaroldFischer Presumably dash just inherits printf(1) too? I found the
zsh manual a bit more opaque, so I didn't quote it here.– Sparhawk
Jan 16 at 4:59
@HaroldFischer Presumably dash just inherits printf(1) too? I found the
zsh manual a bit more opaque, so I didn't quote it here.– Sparhawk
Jan 16 at 4:59
(edited) backslash-dquote is only needed if the format string is in dquotes, which is usually a bad idea, as then you also need to backslash backquote and (most) dollarsign, and may need to quadruple backslash if followed by a printf special.
printf is builtin in bash and dash, but like all nonspecial builtins in a POSIX shell must also be present as an 'external' program.– dave_thompson_085
Jan 16 at 5:09
(edited) backslash-dquote is only needed if the format string is in dquotes, which is usually a bad idea, as then you also need to backslash backquote and (most) dollarsign, and may need to quadruple backslash if followed by a printf special.
printf is builtin in bash and dash, but like all nonspecial builtins in a POSIX shell must also be present as an 'external' program.– dave_thompson_085
Jan 16 at 5:09
@dave_thompson_085, the question does say
I want to clarify that I am not talking about how to escape characters on the shell level of interpretation.– Sparhawk
Jan 16 at 5:10
@dave_thompson_085, the question does say
I want to clarify that I am not talking about how to escape characters on the shell level of interpretation.– Sparhawk
Jan 16 at 5:10
add a comment |
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looks like
' " ?.......... a good search engine for this kind of stuff is symbolhound.com– jsotola
Jan 16 at 4:32
I don't want to be (too) rude, but this is really a RTFM question.
– glenn jackman
Jan 16 at 16:40