utfout1

Usage

Overview

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:

Range escapes

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

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..ω}"
 
 # Display cyrillic characters.
 utfout "\{Ѐ..ӿ}"
 
 # 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