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

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

SYNOPSIS
       #include <stdio.h>

       int printf(const char *format, ...);
       int fprintf(FILE *stream, 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 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(): _BSD_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 ||
       _ISOC99_SOURCE; or cc -std=c99

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

       The functions vprintf(), vfprintf(), vsprintf(), vsnprintf() are equiv‐
       alent  to  the  functions  printf(),  fprintf(), 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	 unde‐
       fined after the call.  See stdarg(3).

       These  eight  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 to
       copying 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.

   Return value
       Upon successful return, these functions return the number of characters
       printed	(not  including	 the  trailing	'\0'  used  to	end  output to
       strings).

       The functions snprintf() and vsnprintf() do not write  more  than  size
       bytes  (including  the trailing '\0').  If the output was truncated due
       to this limit then the return value is the number  of  characters  (not
       including the trailing '\0') 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.

   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 '*' and each conversion specifier asks for  the  next
       argument	 (and  it  is  an  error  if insufficiently many arguments are
       given).	One can also specify explicitly 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 arguments
       1  and  3 are specified, argument 2 must also be specified somewhere 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.  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.

   The 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 non-zero 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.)  Except for  n  con‐
	      versions,	 the  converted	 value	is  padded  on	the right with
	      blanks, rather than on the left with blanks or zeros.  A - over‐
	      rides 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 neg‐
	      ative numbers.  A + overrides a space if both are used.

       The five flag characters above are defined  in  the  C  standard.   The
       SUSv2 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.  Note that many versions of gcc(1) cannot
	      parse this option and will issue	a  warning.   SUSv2  does  not
	      include %'F.

       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.

   The field width
       An optional decimal digit string (with non-zero 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.

   The 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  '.',  or  the precision is negative, the precision is taken to be
       zero.  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 conversions, or the maximum number of
       characters to be printed from a string for s and S conversions.

   The 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.

       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.)

       q      ("quad".	4.4BSD	and  Linux libc5 only.	Don't use.)  This is a
	      synonym for ll.

       j      A following integer conversion corresponds  to  an  intmax_t  or
	      uintmax_t argument.

       z      A	 following  integer  conversion	 corresponds  to  a  size_t or
	      ssize_t argument.	 (Linux libc5 has Z with this meaning.	 Don't
	      use it.)

       t      A	 following integer conversion corresponds to a ptrdiff_t argu‐
	      ment.

       The SUSv2 only knows about 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).

   The conversion specifier
       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.

	      (The  SUSv2 does not know about F and says that character string
	      representations for infinity and NaN may be made available.  The
	      C99  standard  specifies "[-]inf" or "[-]infinity" for infinity,
	      and a string starting with "nan" for NaN, in the case of f  con‐
	      version,	and "[-]INF" or "[-]INFINITY" 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)  For a conversion, the double argument is
	      converted to hexadecimal notation (using the letters abcdef)  in
	      the  style  [-]0xh.hhhhp±d;  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 precision.  The default  pre‐
	      cision  suffices	for an exact representation of the value if an
	      exact representation in base 2 exists and	 otherwise  is	suffi‐
	      ciently  large  to distinguish values of type double.  The digit
	      before the decimal point is unspecified for non-normalized  num‐
	      bers, and non-zero but otherwise unspecified for normalized num‐
	      bers.

       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, but in SUSv2.)  Synonym for lc.  Don't use.

       S      (Not in C99, but in SUSv2.)  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 indicated by the int * (or variant)  pointer	argument.   No
	      argument is converted.

       m      (Glibc  extension.)   Print output of strerror(errno).  No argu‐
	      ment is required.

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

CONFORMING TO
       The   fprintf(),	  printf(),   sprintf(),  vprintf(),  vfprintf(),  and
       vsprintf() functions conform  to	 C89  and  C99.	  The  snprintf()  and
       vsnprintf() functions conform to C99.

       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.

       Linux libc4 knows about the five C standard flags.  It knows about  the
       length  modifiers  h, l, L, and the conversions c, d, e, E, f, F, g, G,
       i, n, o, p, s, u, x, and X, where F is a synonym for f.	 Additionally,
       it  accepts  D, O, and U as synonyms for ld, lo, and lu.	 (This is bad,
       and caused serious bugs later, when support for	%D  disappeared.)   No
       locale-dependent	 radix	character,  no thousands' separator, no NaN or
       infinity, no "%m$" and "*m$".

       Linux libc5 knows about the five C  standard  flags  and	 the  '	 flag,
       locale,	"%m$" and "*m$".  It knows about the length modifiers h, l, L,
       Z, and q, but accepts L and q both for long double and  for  long  long
       int  (this is a bug).  It no longer recognizes F, D, O, and U, but adds
       the conversion character m, which outputs strerror(errno).

       glibc 2.0 adds conversion characters C and S.

       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)).

       Linux libc4.[45] does not have a snprintf(), but provides a libbsd that
       contains an snprintf() equivalent  to  sprintf(),  that	is,  one  that
       ignores	the  size  argument.   Thus,  the use of snprintf() with early
       libc4 leads to serious security problems.

       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, ...)
       {
	   /* Guess we need no more than 100 bytes. */
	   int n, size = 100;
	   char *p, *np;
	   va_list ap;

	   if ((p = malloc(size)) == NULL)
	       return NULL;

	   while (1) {
	       /* Try to print in the allocated space. */
	       va_start(ap, fmt);
	       n = vsnprintf(p, size, fmt, ap);
	       va_end(ap);
	       /* If that worked, return the string. */
	       if (n > -1 && n < size)
		   return p;
	       /* Else try again with more space. */
	       if (n > -1)    /* glibc 2.1 */
		   size = n+1; /* precisely what is needed */
	       else	      /* glibc 2.0 */
		   size *= 2;  /* twice the old size */
	       if ((np = realloc (p, size)) == NULL) {
		   free(p);
		   return NULL;
	       } else {
		   p = np;
	       }
	   }
       }

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

COLOPHON
       This  page  is  part of release 3.22 of the Linux man-pages project.  A
       description of the project, and information about reporting  bugs,  can
       be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

GNU				  2008-12-19			     PRINTF(3)
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