The following table lists all conversion characters of the printf() function:
| Conversion character | Description |
|---|---|
| %c | Single character |
| %s | String (all characters until \0) |
| %d | Signed decimal number |
| %# | A 0x should precede a hexadecimal number |
| %u | Unsigned decimal number |
| %o | Unsigned octal number |
| %x | Unsigned hexadecimal number with lowercase digits (1a4e) |
| %X | As x, but with uppercase digits (1A4E) |
| %f | Signed decimal value (floating point) |
| %e | Signed decimal with exponent (1.13e-4) |
| %E | As e, but uses E for exponent (1.13E-4) |
| %g | As e or f, but depends on size and precision of value |
| %G | As g, but uses E for exponent |
The optional characters l or L may immediately precede the type character to respectively specify long versions of the integer types d, i, u, o, x, and X.
Special characters (also called escape sequences) are used to display non-printing or hard-to-print characters. These characters control how text is positioned in the output. We have seen the \n example for a newline.
A list of escape sequences can be found in the chapter Constants and literals
Escape sequences and words are often joined together in the ControlString (see the example above: \nm). This looks a bit strange, but follows a general logic. If you’d add a space between the two, you would start the newline with a space as well.