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AgileSoul
Asked: 2022-08-30 12:18:50 +0800 CST 2022-08-30 12:18:50 +0800 CST

How can I print an amount n of spaces on the right with printf?

  • 772

I want to align a text, for example let's say I want to have 12 spaces to the right before the text. I tried this but I get left aligned and not right aligned:

printf "%12s" "texto" #-->
#            texto

How can I get something like this?:

#                                                                       texto
bash

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Fill with spaces as many columns as the terminal has minus 12:

    printf "%*s\n" $(($(tput cols)-12)) "texto"

    Using two evaluations: one to get the number of columns and one for subtraction.

    • 3

  2. You can also create a function that echoes the call to printf .

    I don't think it's the best solution, but at least it's another one:

    $ repetir() { char="$1"; times="$2"; for i in $(seq 1 $times); do printf "$char"; done }
$ echo "$(repetir "=" 2)" hola
== hola
    • 2