Info Catalog gawk: Printf gawk: Control Letters

gawk: Basic Printf

 
 5.5.1 Introduction to the 'printf' Statement
 --------------------------------------------
 
 A simple 'printf' statement looks like this:
 
      printf FORMAT, ITEM1, ITEM2, ...
 
 As for 'print', the entire list of arguments may optionally be enclosed
 in parentheses.  Here too, the parentheses are necessary if any of the
 item expressions uses the '>' relational operator; otherwise, it can be
 confused with an output redirection (Redirection).
 
    The difference between 'printf' and 'print' is the FORMAT argument.
 This is an expression whose value is taken as a string; it specifies how
 to output each of the other arguments.  It is called the "format
 string".
 
    The format string is very similar to that in the ISO C library
 function 'printf()'.  Most of FORMAT is text to output verbatim.
 Scattered among this text are "format specifiers"--one per item.  Each
 format specifier says to output the next item in the argument list at
 that place in the format.
 
    The 'printf' statement does not automatically append a newline to its
 output.  It outputs only what the format string specifies.  So if a
 newline is needed, you must include one in the format string.  The
 output separator variables 'OFS' and 'ORS' have no effect on 'printf'
 statements.  For example:
 
      $ awk 'BEGIN {
      >    ORS = "\nOUCH!\n"; OFS = "+"
      >    msg = "Don\47t Panic!"
      >    printf "%s\n", msg
      > }'
      -| Don't Panic!
 
 Here, neither the '+' nor the 'OUCH!' appears in the output message.
 

Info Catalog gawk: Printf gawk: Control Letters