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PRINTF(3)		   Linux Programmer's Manual		     PRINTF(3)



NAME
       printf,	 fprintf,   dprintf,  sprintf,	snprintf,  vprintf,  vfprintf,
       vdprintf, vsprintf, vsnprintf - formatted output conversion

SYNOPSIS
       #include <stdio.h>

       int printf(const char *format, ...);
       int fprintf(FILE *stream, const char *format, ...);
       int dprintf(int fd, const char *format, ...);
       int sprintf(char *str, const char *format, ...);
       int snprintf(char *str, size_t size, const char *format, ...);

       #include <stdarg.h>

       int vprintf(const char *format, va_list ap);
       int vfprintf(FILE *stream, const char *format, va_list ap);
       int vdprintf(int fd, const char *format, va_list ap);
       int vsprintf(char *str, const char *format, va_list ap);
       int vsnprintf(char *str, size_t size, const char *format, va_list ap);

   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

       snprintf(), vsnprintf():
	   _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 || _ISOC99_SOURCE ||
	       || /* Glibc versions <= 2.19: */ _BSD_SOURCE

       dprintf(), vdprintf():
	   Since glibc 2.10:
	       _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L
	   Before glibc 2.10:
	       _GNU_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION
       The functions in the printf() family produce output according to a for-
       mat  as	described  below.   The functions printf() and vprintf() write
       output to stdout, the standard output stream; fprintf() and  vfprintf()
       write  output  to  the  given  output  stream;  sprintf(),  snprintf(),
       vsprintf() and vsnprintf() write to the character string str.

       The function dprintf() is the same as fprintf() except that it  outputs
       to a file descriptor, fd, instead of to a stdio stream.

       The  functions  snprintf()  and	vsnprintf()  write  at most size bytes
       (including the terminating null byte ('\0')) to str.

       The   functions	 vprintf(),   vfprintf(),   vdprintf(),	   vsprintf(),
       vsnprintf()  are	 equivalent  to	 the  functions	 printf(),  fprintf(),
       dprintf(), sprintf(), snprintf(), respectively, except  that  they  are
       called with a va_list instead of a variable number of arguments.	 These
       functions do not call the va_end macro.	Because they invoke the va_arg
       macro, the value of ap is undefined after the call.  See stdarg(3).

       All  of	these functions write the output under the control of a format
       string that specifies how subsequent arguments (or  arguments  accessed
       via the variable-length argument facilities of stdarg(3)) are converted
       for output.

       C99 and POSIX.1-2001 specify that the results are undefined if  a  call
       to  sprintf(), snprintf(), vsprintf(), or vsnprintf() would cause copy-
       ing to take place between objects that overlap  (e.g.,  if  the	target
       string  array and one of the supplied input arguments refer to the same
       buffer).	 See NOTES.

   Format of the format string
       The format string is a character string, beginning and  ending  in  its
       initial	shift state, if any.  The format string is composed of zero or
       more  directives:  ordinary  characters	(not  %),  which  are	copied
       unchanged  to the output stream; and conversion specifications, each of
       which results in fetching zero or more subsequent arguments.  Each con-
       version specification is introduced by the character %, and ends with a
       conversion specifier.  In between there may be (in this order) zero  or
       more  flags, an optional minimum field width, an optional precision and
       an optional length modifier.

       The arguments must correspond properly (after type promotion) with  the
       conversion  specifier.  By default, the arguments are used in the order
       given, where each '*' (see Field width and Precision  below)  and  each
       conversion  specifier asks for the next argument (and it is an error if
       insufficiently many arguments are given).  One can also specify explic-
       itly  which  argument  is  taken,  at  each  place where an argument is
       required, by writing "%m$" instead of '%' and  "*m$"  instead  of  '*',
       where  the  decimal integer m denotes the position in the argument list
       of the desired argument, indexed starting from 1.  Thus,

	   printf("%*d", width, num);

       and

	   printf("%2$*1$d", width, num);

       are equivalent.	The second style allows	 repeated  references  to  the
       same  argument.	The C99 standard does not include the style using '$',
       which comes from the Single UNIX Specification.	If the style using '$'
       is used, it must be used throughout for all conversions taking an argu-
       ment and all width and precision arguments, but it may  be  mixed  with
       "%%"  formats,  which do not consume an argument.  There may be no gaps
       in the numbers of arguments specified using '$'; for example, if	 argu-
       ments  1	 and  3 are specified, argument 2 must also be specified some-
       where in the format string.

       For some numeric conversions a radix  character	("decimal  point")  or
       thousands'  grouping  character	is  used.   The	 actual character used
       depends on the LC_NUMERIC part of the locale.  (See setlocale(3).)  The
       POSIX  locale uses '.' as radix character, and does not have a grouping
       character.  Thus,

	       printf("%'.2f", 1234567.89);

       results in "1234567.89" in the POSIX locale,  in	 "1234567,89"  in  the
       nl_NL locale, and in "1.234.567,89" in the da_DK locale.

   Flag characters
       The character % is followed by zero or more of the following flags:

       #      The  value  should  be  converted to an "alternate form".	 For o
	      conversions, the first character of the output  string  is  made
	      zero (by prefixing a 0 if it was not zero already).  For x and X
	      conversions, a nonzero result has the string "0x" (or "0X" for X
	      conversions)  prepended  to  it.	For a, A, e, E, f, F, g, and G
	      conversions, the result will always  contain  a  decimal	point,
	      even  if	no digits follow it (normally, a decimal point appears
	      in the results of those conversions only if  a  digit  follows).
	      For g and G conversions, trailing zeros are not removed from the
	      result as they would otherwise be.  For other  conversions,  the
	      result is undefined.

       0      The value should be zero padded.	For d, i, o, u, x, X, a, A, e,
	      E, f, F, g, and G conversions, the converted value is padded  on
	      the  left	 with  zeros rather than blanks.  If the 0 and - flags
	      both appear, the 0 flag is ignored.  If  a  precision  is	 given
	      with  a numeric conversion (d, i, o, u, x, and X), the 0 flag is
	      ignored.	For other conversions, the behavior is undefined.

       -      The converted value is to be left adjusted on the	 field	bound-
	      ary.  (The default is right justification.)  The converted value
	      is padded on the right with blanks, rather than on the left with
	      blanks or zeros.	A - overrides a 0 if both are given.

       ' '    (a  space)  A  blank should be left before a positive number (or
	      empty string) produced by a signed conversion.

       +      A sign (+ or -) should always be placed before a number produced
	      by  a  signed  conversion.   By default, a sign is used only for
	      negative numbers.	 A + overrides a space if both are used.

       The five flag characters above are defined in the  C99  standard.   The
       Single UNIX Specification specifies one further flag character.

       '      For decimal conversion (i, d, u, f, F, g, G) the output is to be
	      grouped with thousands' grouping characters if the locale infor-
	      mation  indicates any.  (See setlocale(3).)  Note that many ver-
	      sions of gcc(1) cannot parse this option and will issue a	 warn-
	      ing.  (SUSv2 did not include %'F, but SUSv3 added it.)

       glibc 2.2 adds one further flag character.

       I      For  decimal  integer  conversion	 (i, d, u) the output uses the
	      locale's alternative output digits, if any.  For example,	 since
	      glibc  2.2.3  this  will give Arabic-Indic digits in the Persian
	      ("fa_IR") locale.

   Field width
       An optional decimal digit string (with nonzero first digit)  specifying
       a  minimum  field  width.   If the converted value has fewer characters
       than the field width, it will be padded with spaces  on	the  left  (or
       right, if the left-adjustment flag has been given).  Instead of a deci-
       mal digit string one may write "*" or "*m$" (for some  decimal  integer
       m) to specify that the field width is given in the next argument, or in
       the m-th argument, respectively, which must be of type int.  A negative
       field  width is taken as a '-' flag followed by a positive field width.
       In no case does a nonexistent or small field width cause truncation  of
       a  field;  if the result of a conversion is wider than the field width,
       the field is expanded to contain the conversion result.

   Precision
       An optional precision, in the form of a period ('.')   followed	by  an
       optional	 decimal  digit string.	 Instead of a decimal digit string one
       may write "*" or "*m$" (for some decimal integer m) to specify that the
       precision  is  given  in	 the  next  argument, or in the m-th argument,
       respectively, which must be of type int.	 If the precision is given  as
       just  '.',  the precision is taken to be zero.  A negative precision is
       taken as if the precision were omitted.	This gives the minimum	number
       of digits to appear for d, i, o, u, x, and X conversions, the number of
       digits to appear after the radix character for a, A, e,	E,  f,	and  F
       conversions,  the maximum number of significant digits for g and G con-
       versions, or the maximum number of characters  to  be  printed  from  a
       string for s and S conversions.

   Length modifier
       Here, "integer conversion" stands for d, i, o, u, x, or X conversion.

       hh     A	 following  integer conversion corresponds to a signed char or
	      unsigned char argument, or a following n conversion  corresponds
	      to a pointer to a signed char argument.

       h      A	 following  integer  conversion	 corresponds to a short int or
	      unsigned short int argument, or a following n conversion	corre-
	      sponds to a pointer to a short int argument.

       l      (ell)  A	following integer conversion corresponds to a long int
	      or unsigned long int argument, or a following n conversion  cor-
	      responds	to  a pointer to a long int argument, or a following c
	      conversion corresponds to a wint_t argument, or  a  following  s
	      conversion corresponds to a pointer to wchar_t argument.

       ll     (ell-ell).  A following integer conversion corresponds to a long
	      long int or unsigned long long int argument, or  a  following  n
	      conversion corresponds to a pointer to a long long int argument.

       q      A synonym for ll.	 This is a nonstandard extension, derived from
	      BSD; avoid its use in new code.

       L      A following a, A, e, E, f, F, g, or G conversion corresponds  to
	      a long double argument.  (C99 allows %LF, but SUSv2 does not.)

       j      A	 following  integer  conversion	 corresponds to an intmax_t or
	      uintmax_t argument, or a following n conversion corresponds to a
	      pointer to an intmax_t argument.

       z      A	 following  integer  conversion	 corresponds  to  a  size_t or
	      ssize_t argument, or a following n conversion corresponds	 to  a
	      pointer to a size_t argument.

       Z      A	 nonstandard  synonym for z that predates the appearance of z.
	      Do not use in new code.

       t      A following integer conversion corresponds to a ptrdiff_t	 argu-
	      ment,  or a following n conversion corresponds to a pointer to a
	      ptrdiff_t argument.

       SUSv3 specifies all of the above, except for those modifiers explicitly
       noted as being nonstandard extensions.  SUSv2 specified only the length
       modifiers h (in hd, hi, ho, hx, hX, hn) and l (in ld, li, lo,  lx,  lX,
       ln, lc, ls) and L (in Le, LE, Lf, Lg, LG).

       As  a nonstandard extension, the GNU implementations treats ll and L as
       synonyms, so that one can, for example, write llg (as a synonym for the
       standards-compliant  Lg) and Ld (as a synonym for the standards compli-
       ant lld).  Such usage is nonportable.

   Conversion specifiers
       A character that specifies the type of conversion to be	applied.   The
       conversion specifiers and their meanings are:

       d, i   The  int	argument is converted to signed decimal notation.  The
	      precision, if any, gives the minimum number of digits that  must
	      appear;  if  the	converted  value  requires fewer digits, it is
	      padded on the left with zeros.   The  default  precision	is  1.
	      When  0  is  printed with an explicit precision 0, the output is
	      empty.

       o, u, x, X
	      The unsigned int argument is converted to	 unsigned  octal  (o),
	      unsigned	decimal	 (u),  or unsigned hexadecimal (x and X) nota-
	      tion.  The letters abcdef are used for x conversions;  the  let-
	      ters  ABCDEF are used for X conversions.	The precision, if any,
	      gives the minimum number of digits that must appear; if the con-
	      verted  value  requires  fewer  digits, it is padded on the left
	      with zeros.  The default precision is 1.	When 0 is printed with
	      an explicit precision 0, the output is empty.

       e, E   The  double  argument  is	 rounded  and  converted  in the style
	      [-]d.ddde+-dd where there is one digit before the	 decimal-point
	      character and the number of digits after it is equal to the pre-
	      cision; if the precision is missing, it is taken as  6;  if  the
	      precision	 is  zero,  no	decimal-point character appears.  An E
	      conversion uses the letter E (rather than e)  to	introduce  the
	      exponent.	  The exponent always contains at least two digits; if
	      the value is zero, the exponent is 00.

       f, F   The double argument is rounded and converted to decimal notation
	      in  the  style  [-]ddd.ddd, where the number of digits after the
	      decimal-point character is equal to the precision specification.
	      If  the precision is missing, it is taken as 6; if the precision
	      is explicitly zero, no decimal-point character  appears.	 If  a
	      decimal point appears, at least one digit appears before it.

	      (SUSv2 does not know about F and says that character string rep-
	      resentations for infinity and NaN may be made available.	 SUSv3
	      adds a specification for F.  The C99 standard specifies "[-]inf"
	      or "[-]infinity" for infinity, and a string starting with	 "nan"
	      for NaN, in the case of f conversion, and "[-]INF" or "[-]INFIN-
	      ITY" or "NAN" in the case of F conversion.)

       g, G   The double argument is converted in style f or e (or F or E  for
	      G	 conversions).	The precision specifies the number of signifi-
	      cant digits.  If the precision is missing, 6 digits  are	given;
	      if  the  precision is zero, it is treated as 1.  Style e is used
	      if the exponent from its conversion is less than -4  or  greater
	      than or equal to the precision.  Trailing zeros are removed from
	      the fractional part of the result; a decimal point appears  only
	      if it is followed by at least one digit.

       a, A   (C99;  not  in  SUSv2, but added in SUSv3) For a conversion, the
	      double argument is converted to hexadecimal notation (using  the
	      letters  abcdef)	in  the style [-]0xh.hhhhp+-; for A conversion
	      the prefix 0X, the letters ABCDEF, and the exponent separator  P
	      is  used.	  There	 is  one  hexadecimal digit before the decimal
	      point, and the number of digits after it is equal to the	preci-
	      sion.   The  default precision suffices for an exact representa-
	      tion of the value if an exact representation in  base  2	exists
	      and  otherwise  is  sufficiently	large to distinguish values of
	      type double.  The digit before the decimal point is  unspecified
	      for nonnormalized numbers, and nonzero but otherwise unspecified
	      for normalized numbers.

       c      If no l modifier is present, the int argument is converted to an
	      unsigned	char, and the resulting character is written.  If an l
	      modifier is present, the wint_t  (wide  character)  argument  is
	      converted	 to  a	multibyte sequence by a call to the wcrtomb(3)
	      function, with a conversion state starting in the initial state,
	      and the resulting multibyte string is written.

       s      If  no  l	 modifier  is  present:	 the  const char * argument is
	      expected to be a pointer to an array of character type  (pointer
	      to  a string).  Characters from the array are written up to (but
	      not including) a terminating null byte ('\0'); if a precision is
	      specified,  no more than the number specified are written.  If a
	      precision is given, no null byte need be present; if the	preci-
	      sion is not specified, or is greater than the size of the array,
	      the array must contain a terminating null byte.

	      If an l modifier is present: the	const  wchar_t *  argument  is
	      expected	to  be a pointer to an array of wide characters.  Wide
	      characters from the array are converted to multibyte  characters
	      (each  by	 a  call to the wcrtomb(3) function, with a conversion
	      state starting in the initial state before the first wide	 char-
	      acter),  up  to and including a terminating null wide character.
	      The resulting multibyte characters are written up	 to  (but  not
	      including)  the terminating null byte.  If a precision is speci-
	      fied, no more bytes than the number specified are	 written,  but
	      no partial multibyte characters are written.  Note that the pre-
	      cision determines the number of bytes written, not the number of
	      wide  characters	or screen positions.  The array must contain a
	      terminating null wide character, unless a precision is given and
	      it  is  so  small	 that  the  number of bytes written exceeds it
	      before the end of the array is reached.

       C      (Not in C99 or C11, but in SUSv2, SUSv3,	and  SUSv4.)   Synonym
	      for lc.  Don't use.

       S      (Not  in	C99  or C11, but in SUSv2, SUSv3, and SUSv4.)  Synonym
	      for ls.  Don't use.

       p      The void * pointer argument is printed in hexadecimal (as if  by
	      %#x or %#lx).

       n      The number of characters written so far is stored into the inte-
	      ger pointed to by the  corresponding  argument.	That  argument
	      shall  be	 an  int *, or variant whose size matches the (option-
	      ally) supplied integer length modifier.	No  argument  is  con-
	      verted.	(This  specifier  is  not  supported  by  the bionic C
	      library.)	 The behavior is undefined if the conversion  specifi-
	      cation includes any flags, a field width, or a precision.

       m      (Glibc  extension;  supported by uClibc and musl.)  Print output
	      of strerror(errno).  No argument is required.

       %      A '%' is written.	 No argument is converted.  The complete  con-
	      version specification is '%%'.

RETURN VALUE
       Upon successful return, these functions return the number of characters
       printed (excluding the null byte used to end output to strings).

       The functions snprintf() and vsnprintf() do not write  more  than  size
       bytes  (including the terminating null byte ('\0')).  If the output was
       truncated due to this limit, then the return value  is  the  number  of
       characters  (excluding the terminating null byte) which would have been
       written to the final string if enough space had been available.	 Thus,
       a  return  value	 of  size or more means that the output was truncated.
       (See also below under NOTES.)

       If an output error is encountered, a negative value is returned.

ATTRIBUTES
       For  an	explanation  of	 the  terms  used   in	 this	section,   see
       attributes(7).

       +------------------------+---------------+----------------+
       |Interface		| Attribute	| Value		 |
       +------------------------+---------------+----------------+
       |printf(), fprintf(),	| Thread safety | MT-Safe locale |
       |sprintf(), snprintf(),	|		|		 |
       |vprintf(), vfprintf(),	|		|		 |
       |vsprintf(), vsnprintf() |		|		 |
       +------------------------+---------------+----------------+

CONFORMING TO
       fprintf(),  printf(),  sprintf(),  vprintf(),  vfprintf(),  vsprintf():
       POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, C89, C99.

       snprintf(), vsnprintf(): POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, C99.

       The dprintf() and vdprintf() functions were originally  GNU  extensions
       that were later standardized in POSIX.1-2008.

       Concerning  the	return	value  of snprintf(), SUSv2 and C99 contradict
       each other: when snprintf() is called with size=0 then SUSv2 stipulates
       an  unspecified	return	value  less than 1, while C99 allows str to be
       NULL in this case, and gives the return value (as always) as the number
       of  characters  that  would have been written in case the output string
       has been large enough.  POSIX.1-2001 and later align  their  specifica-
       tion of snprintf() with C99.

       glibc  2.1 adds length modifiers hh, j, t, and z and conversion charac-
       ters a and A.

       glibc 2.2 adds the conversion character F with C99 semantics,  and  the
       flag character I.

NOTES
       Some programs imprudently rely on code such as the following

	   sprintf(buf, "%s some further text", buf);

       to append text to buf.  However, the standards explicitly note that the
       results are undefined if source and destination	buffers	 overlap  when
       calling	sprintf(), snprintf(), vsprintf(), and vsnprintf().  Depending
       on the version of gcc(1) used, and the compiler options employed, calls
       such as the above will not produce the expected results.

       The  glibc  implementation  of the functions snprintf() and vsnprintf()
       conforms to the C99 standard, that  is,	behaves	 as  described	above,
       since  glibc version 2.1.  Until glibc 2.0.6, they would return -1 when
       the output was truncated.

BUGS
       Because sprintf() and vsprintf() assume	an  arbitrarily	 long  string,
       callers must be careful not to overflow the actual space; this is often
       impossible to assure.  Note that the length of the strings produced  is
       locale-dependent	  and	difficult  to  predict.	  Use  snprintf()  and
       vsnprintf() instead (or asprintf(3) and vasprintf(3)).

       Code such as printf(foo); often indicates a bug, since foo may  contain
       a  % character.	If foo comes from untrusted user input, it may contain
       %n, causing the printf() call to write to memory and creating  a	 secu-
       rity hole.

EXAMPLE
       To print Pi to five decimal places:

	   #include <math.h>
	   #include <stdio.h>
	   fprintf(stdout, "pi = %.5f\n", 4 * atan(1.0));

       To  print  a  date  and time in the form "Sunday, July 3, 10:02", where
       weekday and month are pointers to strings:

	   #include <stdio.h>
	   fprintf(stdout, "%s, %s %d, %.2d:%.2d\n",
		   weekday, month, day, hour, min);

       Many countries use the day-month-year order.  Hence, an	international-
       ized  version must be able to print the arguments in an order specified
       by the format:

	   #include <stdio.h>
	   fprintf(stdout, format,
		   weekday, month, day, hour, min);

       where format depends on locale, and may permute	the  arguments.	  With
       the value:

	   "%1$s, %3$d. %2$s, %4$d:%5$.2d\n"

       one might obtain "Sonntag, 3. Juli, 10:02".

       To allocate a sufficiently large string and print into it (code correct
       for both glibc 2.0 and glibc 2.1):

       #include <stdio.h>
       #include <stdlib.h>
       #include <stdarg.h>

       char *
       make_message(const char *fmt, ...)
       {
	   int size = 0;
	   char *p = NULL;
	   va_list ap;

	   /* Determine required size */

	   va_start(ap, fmt);
	   size = vsnprintf(p, size, fmt, ap);
	   va_end(ap);

	   if (size < 0)
	       return NULL;

	   size++;	       /* For '\0' */
	   p = malloc(size);
	   if (p == NULL)
	       return NULL;

	   va_start(ap, fmt);
	   size = vsnprintf(p, size, fmt, ap);
	   va_end(ap);

	   if (size < 0) {
	       free(p);
	       return NULL;
	   }

	   return p;
       }

       If truncation occurs in glibc versions prior to 2.0.6, this is  treated
       as an error instead of being handled gracefully.

SEE ALSO
       printf(1),  asprintf(3),	 puts(3), scanf(3), setlocale(3), strfromd(3),
       wcrtomb(3), wprintf(3), locale(5)

COLOPHON
       This page is part of release 4.10 of the Linux  man-pages  project.   A
       description  of	the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
       latest	 version    of	  this	  page,	   can	   be	  found	    at
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



GNU				  2016-12-12			     PRINTF(3)