printf

Produce formatted output portably across all POSIX shells. Prefer printf over echo in scripts whenever escape sequences, format strings, or cross-shell portability matter.

Quick Start

1. Basic output: printf '%s\n' "Hello, world"
2. Formatted: printf '%-20s %d\n' "count:" 42
3. Write to file: printf '%s\n' "content" > file.txt

Intent Router

• references/cheatsheet.md — Format specifiers, escape sequences, field widths, common invocations
• references/advanced-usage.md — Multiline output, ANSI colour, heredoc alternatives, null-delimited pipelines, scripting patterns
• references/troubleshooting.md — % in variables, portability pitfalls, locale issues, cross-shell differences

Core Workflow