UTFOUT

NAME

utfout - utility for producing UTF-8 output to standard streams and terminal.

SYNOPSIS

utfout [OPTION]... [STRING]...

DESCRIPTION

Echo strings to specified output stream(s).

OPTIONS

-a, --intra-char=<char>

Insert specified character (which may be a 1-character escape character) between all output characters.

-b, --intra-pause=<delay>

Pause between writing each character.

-e, --stderr

Write subsequent strings to standard error (file descriptor 2).

-h, --help

This help text.

-i, --interpret

Interpret escape characters (default).

-l, --literal

Write literal strings only (disable escape characters).

-o, --stdout

Write subsequent strings to standard output (file descriptor 1).

-p, --prefix=<prefix>

Use <prefix> as escape prefix (default=’\’).

-r, --repeat=<repeat>

Repeat previous value <repeat> times.

-s, --sleep=<delay>

Sleep for <delay> amount of time.

-t, --terminal

Write subsequent strings directly to terminal.

-u, --file-descriptor=<fd> Write to specified file descriptor.

-x, --exit=<num>

Exit with value <num>.

ESCAPE CHARACTERS

utfout recognises C-style escape sequences as used by printf(1) . By default an escape sequence is introduced by the backslash character ('\'), however this may be changed with the -p option. utfout also supports some additional sequences:

	\0		- nul byte (hex value 0x00)
	\a		- alert (bell)
	\b		- backspace
	\c		- no further output
	\e		- escape character (used for changing terminal attributes)
	\f		- form feed
	\g		- generate pseudo-random printable character
	\n		- newline
	\oNNN		- byte with octal value NNN (1 to 3 digits)
	\r		- carriage return
	\t		- horizontal tab

\uNNNN

- 2 byte Unicode (ISO/IEC 10646) character with hex value NNNN (4 digits)

\UNNNNNNNN

- 4 byte Unicode (ISO/IEC 10646) character with hex value NNNNNNNN (8 digits)

	\v		- vertical tab
	\xNN		- byte with hexadecimal value NN (1 to 2 digits)

RANGE ESCAPES

utfout also supports range escapes which allow a range of characters to be specified in a compact format.
\{N..N}

- specify a range by two 1-byte literal characters.

\{oNNN..oNNN}

- specify a range by two 3-byte octal values.

\{uNNNN..uNNNN}

- specify a range by two 2-byte Unicode values.

\{UNNNNNNNN..UNNNNNNNN}

- specify a range by two 4-byte Unicode values.

\{xNN..xNN}

- specify a range by two 2-byte hex values.

Note that ranges take two values of the same type and the maximum width for that type must be specified.

NOTES

	•		Arguments are processed in order.
	•		With the exception of ’-x’, arguments may be repeated any number of times.
	•		All output will be sent to standard output until an output redirection option is specified that changes the output stream (namely -e or -t (or their long-option equivalents), or if output has already been redirected -o (or its long-option equivalent)).
	•		If <str> is the empty string ("" or '') it will be treated as \0 such that a nul byte will be displayed.
	•		To cancel the effect of -a, specify a null string: -a ''.
	•		If <repeat> is ’-1’, repeat forever.
	•		Replace the ’Z’ in the range formats above with the appropriate characters.
	•		Ranges can be either ascending or descending.
	•		<delay> can take the following forms where <num> is a positive integer:

<num>ns : nano-seconds (1/1,000,000,000 second)
<num>us : micro-seconds (1/1,000,000 second)
<num>ms : milli-seconds (1/1,000 second)
<num>cs : centi-seconds (1/100 second)
<num>ds : deci-seconds (1/10 second)
<num>s : seconds
<num>m : minutes
<num>h : hours
<num>h : days
<num> : seconds

If <num> is -1, wait until any signal is received.
If signal is SIGNUM continue, else exit immediately.

•

Generated printable random characters may not display unless you are using an appropriate font.

EXAMPLES

# Print "foofoofoo" to stderr, followed by "barbar" to stdout.
utfout "foo" -r 2 -o "bar" -r 1
# Write 50 nul bytes direct to the terminal.
utfout -t "" -r 49
# Write continuous stream of nul bytes direct to the terminal,
# 1 per second.
utfout -b 1s -t ’’ -r -1
# Display a greeting slowly (as a human might type)
utfout -b 20cs "Hello, $USER.\n"
# Display a "spinner" that loops 4 times.
utfout -b 20cs -p % "%r|%r/%r-%r\%r" -r 3
# Display all digits between zero and nine with a trailing
# newline.
utfout "\{0..9}\n"
# Display slowly the lower-case letters of the alphabet,
# backwards without a newline.
utfout -b 1ds "\{z..a}"
# Display upper-case ’ABC’ with newline.
utfout ’\u0041\u0042\u0043\n’
# Display ’foo’ with newline.
utfout ’\o146\u006f\x6F\n’
# Clear the screen.
utfout ’\n’ -r $LINES
# Write hello to stdout, stderr and the terminal.
utfout ’hello’ -t -r 1 -e -r 1
# Display upper-case letters of the alphabet using octal
# notation, plus a newline.
utfout "\{\o101..\o132}"
# Display ’h.e.l.l.o.’ followed by a newline.
utfout -a . "hello" -a ’’ "\n"
# Display upper-case and lower-case letters of the alphabet
# including the characters in-between, with a trailing newline.
utfout "\{A..z}\n"
# Display lower-case alphabet followed by reversed lower-case alphabet
# with the digits zero to nine, then nine to zero on the next line.
utfout "\{a..z}\{z..a}\n\{0..9}\{9..0}\n"
# Display lower-case Greek letters of the alphabet.
utfout "\{α..Ï}"
# Display cyrillic characters.
utfout "\{Ð..Ó¿}"
# Display all printable ASCII characters using hex range:
utfout "\{\x21..\x7e}"
# Display all printable ASCII characters using 2-byte UTF-8 range:
utfout "\{\u0021..\u007e}"
# Display all printable ASCII characters using 4-byte UTF-8 range:
utfout "\{\U00000021..\U0000007e}"
# Display all braille characters.
utfout "\{\u2800..\u28FF}"
# Display ’WARNING’ in white on red background.
utfout ’\e[37;41mWARNING\e[0m\n’
# Generate 10 random characters.
utfout ’\g’ -r 9

AUTHOR

Written by James Hunt <james.hunt@ubuntu.com>

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2012 James Hunt <james.hunt@ubuntu.com>

LICENSE

GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO

echo(1) printf(1)