Friendly Output: Columns and Colors
printf lines output up in columns, with a width for every blank it fills, and tput adds bold and color, but only when [[ -t 1 ]] says the output is going to a terminal, so files and pipes get plain text.
Updated
![Cheat sheet for the lesson Friendly Output: Columns and Colors: printf lines output up in columns, with a width for every blank it fills, and tput adds bold and color, but only when [[ -t 1 ]] says the output is going to a terminal, so files and pipes get plain text.](https://fsdtrainingmedia.blob.core.windows.net/public/images/2026/11/991eb05bcd9041a2a7fa81fae0f78ace.webp)
- Category
- Bash
- Level
- Journeyman
- Tags
- ansi-escape-code, linux, printf, standard-streams, tput, unix