Subject: bug#21236: printf version output not working

From: Assaf Gordon <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2015 17:06:12 +0000

tag 21236 notabug
close 21236
stop

Hello,

On Tue, Aug 11, 2015 at 09:40:39AM -0400, Shawn Welch wrote:
>The printf man 1 page says that it has a --version switch to output version
>but it fails and exits 1.

It is likely that you are seeing the shell's built in "printf" instead 
of coreutils' printf.

Test with the following:

     $ type printf
     printf is a shell builtin

Then compare:

     $ printf --version
     bash: printf: --: invalid option
     printf: usage: printf [-v var] format [arguments]

     $ env printf --version | head -n1
     printf (GNU coreutils) 8.23.170-02f67

To use the non built-in printf, use 'env' (or specify a full path such 
as /usr/bin/printf, though that is less portable).

regards,
  - assaf