Bash printf confusion

Question

I have been having a hard time figuring out how a specific line of bash script works. If anyone could break down how exactly this printf statement works it would be greatly appreciated.

printf "%${SPACES}s{FNAME}\n" " "

Where SPACES is a number and FNAME is the basename of a file or directory. More detail the better.

anubhava · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-08 08:27:00Z

3

Is SPACE=5 then printf is equivalent to:

printf "%5s{FNAME}\n" " "

Which gives this output:

     {FNAME}
12345

i.e. 5 spaces and literal string {FNAME}

Any number between % and s is being used for space padding before actual string.

answered Feb 8, 2014 at 8:27

anubhava

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2 Comments

CSnewb Over a year ago

Im still confused on the purpose of %10 and the s before {FNAME}

anubhava Over a year ago

Yes I have added explanation in my answer.

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