GNU bug report logs - #54388
printf doesn't handle multi-byte values

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From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: calestyo <at> scientia.org, 54388 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#54388: printf doesn't handle multi-byte values
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2022 15:38:23 +0000

On 14/03/2022 03:27, Christoph Anton Mitterer wrote:
> Hey Pádraig.
> 
> I just wanted to ask, whether the following could be a bug in printf:
> 
> POSIX says[0], that e.g.:
>     printf '%d\n' \"3
> should give the numeric value of the character, and that "in a locale
> with multi-byte characters, the value of a character is intended to be
> the value of the equivalent of the wchar_t representation of the
> character".
> 
> In bash:
> $ printf '%d\n' $'"\u2208'
> 8712
> 
> here the printf is bash's built-in printf, and there it works.
> 
> 
> But using GNU coreutils' printf (version 8.32):
> $ /usr/bin/printf '%d\n' $'"\u2208'
> /usr/bin/printf: warning: ��: character(s) following character constant have been ignored
> 226
> 
> 
> Do I have some wrong assumptions or should I report that as a bug?
> 
> 
> Thanks,
> Chris.
> 
> 
> [0] https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/printf.html

This is a limitation of current coreutils printf that only handles single byte chars currently.
This email will open an issue in our bug tracker.

To summarize:
$ ord() { printf "0x%x\n" "'$1"; }  # bash's printf
$ ord 3
0x33
$ ord $'\u2208'
0x2208

$ ord() { env printf "0x%x\n" "'$1"; }  # coreutils' printf
$ ord 3
0x33
$ ord $'\u2208'
0xprintf: warning: ��: character(s) following character constant have been ignored
e2

cheers,
Pádraig

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