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..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

AUTHOR

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

COPYRIGHT

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.