(coreutils.info)seq invocation

---

Prev: factor invocation Up: Numeric operations

---

Enter node , (file) or (file)node

26.2 `seq': Print numeric sequences
===================================

`seq' prints a sequence of numbers to standard output.  Synopses:

     seq [OPTION]... LAST
     seq [OPTION]... FIRST LAST
     seq [OPTION]... FIRST INCREMENT LAST

   `seq' prints the numbers from FIRST to LAST by INCREMENT.  By
default, each number is printed on a separate line.  When INCREMENT is
not specified, it defaults to `1', even when FIRST is larger than LAST.
FIRST also defaults to `1'.  So `seq 1' prints `1', but `seq 0' and
`seq 10 5' produce no output.  Floating-point numbers may be specified
(using a period before any fractional digits).

   The program accepts the following options.  Also see Note: Common
options.  Options must precede operands.

`-f FORMAT'
`--format=FORMAT'
     Print all numbers using FORMAT.  FORMAT must contain exactly one
     of the `printf'-style floating point conversion specifications
     `%a', `%e', `%f', `%g', `%A', `%E', `%F', `%G'.  The `%' may be
     followed by zero or more flags taken from the set `-+#0 '', then
     an optional width containing one or more digits, then an optional
     precision consisting of a `.' followed by zero or more digits.
     FORMAT may also contain any number of `%%' conversion
     specifications.  All conversion specifications have the same
     meaning as with `printf'.

     The default format is derived from FIRST, STEP, and LAST.  If
     these all use a fixed point decimal representation, the default
     format is `%.Pf', where P is the minimum precision that can
     represent the output numbers exactly.  Otherwise, the default
     format is `%g'.

`-s STRING'
`--separator=STRING'
     Separate numbers with STRING; default is a newline.  The output
     always terminates with a newline.

`-w'
`--equal-width'
     Print all numbers with the same width, by padding with leading
     zeros.  FIRST, STEP, and LAST should all use a fixed point decimal
     representation.  (To have other kinds of padding, use `--format').


   You can get finer-grained control over output with `-f':

     $ seq -f '(%9.2E)' -9e5 1.1e6 1.3e6
     (-9.00E+05)
     ( 2.00E+05)
     ( 1.30E+06)

   If you want hexadecimal integer output, you can use `printf' to
perform the conversion:

     $ printf '%x\n' `seq 1048575 1024 1050623`
     fffff
     1003ff
     1007ff

   For very long lists of numbers, use xargs to avoid system
limitations on the length of an argument list:

     $ seq 1000000 | xargs printf '%x\n' | tail -n 3
     f423e
     f423f
     f4240

   To generate octal output, use the printf `%o' format instead of `%x'.

   On most systems, seq can produce whole-number output for values up to
at least 2^53.  Larger integers are approximated.  The details differ
depending on your floating-point implementation, but a common case is
that `seq' works with integers through 2^64, and larger integers may
not be numerically correct:

     $ seq 18446744073709551616 1 18446744073709551618
     18446744073709551616
     18446744073709551616
     18446744073709551618

   Be careful when using `seq' with outlandish values: otherwise you
may see surprising results, as `seq' uses floating point internally.
For example, on the x86 platform, where the internal representation
uses a 64-bit fraction, the command:

     seq 1 0.0000000000000000001 1.0000000000000000009

   outputs 1.0000000000000000007 twice and skips 1.0000000000000000008.

   An exit status of zero indicates success, and a nonzero value
indicates failure.