Re: [Linuxcommand-discuss] shell printf function

[William S. <bs...@pa...>]

Bram Mertens wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> The signature at the end of this message is generated by two little
> shell-scripts I wrote:
> ---sig-linux---
> #!/bin/bash
> 
> echo '<pre>-- '
> echo '#  Mertens Bram "M8ram" &lt;bra...@li...&gt;   Linux User
> #249103  #'
> /home/m8ram/bin/sig-general
> ---end---
> ---sig-general---
> #!/bin/bash
> current_uptime=$(uptime)
> current_kernel=$(uname -r)
> current_machine=$(uname -m)
> current_release="SuSE 8.1 Pro"
> 
> echo -n '# '; echo -n $current_release; echo -n ' kernel '; echo -n
> $current_kernel; echo -n ' '; echo -n $current_machine; echo ' 128MB RAM
> #'
> echo -n '#  '; echo -n $current_uptime; echo ' #'
> echo '</pre>'
> ---end---
> 
> Unfortunately it still doesn't look very pretty, what I would like is
> something like:
> ---new-sig---
> # Mertens Bram "M8ram" <bra...@li...>  Linux User #249103 #
> # SuSE 8.1 Pro kernel 2.4.19-4GB i686 128MB RAM                    #
> # 1:16am up 12:19, 1 user, load average: 0.06, 0.04, 0.06          #
> ---end---
> 
> Is there a shell-function that allows the output to be of certain length
> like printf in C and Perl (IIRC)?
> I want all lines to be 78 chars wide, regardless of the kernel-version
> or the uptime.
> 
> Is this possible with a shell-script? Or should I write a Perl-script?
> 
> TIA

bash contains a printf command that is mostly like the C/perl/etc 
function.  Try "help printf" at the bash prompt.  Failing that, many 
distributions have a printf program that can be called from scripts. 
Try "man printf"


-- 
|||||  William Shotts, Jr. (bshotts AT panix DOT com)
|||||  Be a Linux Commander!  Follow me to http://linuxcommand.org