=========================================
How to get printk format specifiers right
=========================================

.. _printk-specifiers:

:Author: Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@infradead.org>
:Author: Andrew Murray <amurray@mpc-data.co.uk>


Integer types
=============

::

	If variable is of Type,		use printk format specifier:
	------------------------------------------------------------
		signed char		%d or %hhx
		unsigned char		%u or %x
		char			%u or %x
		short int		%d or %hx
		unsigned short int	%u or %x
		int			%d or %x
		unsigned int		%u or %x
		long			%ld or %lx
		unsigned long		%lu or %lx
		long long		%lld or %llx
		unsigned long long	%llu or %llx
		size_t			%zu or %zx
		ssize_t			%zd or %zx
		s8			%d or %hhx
		u8			%u or %x
		s16			%d or %hx
		u16			%u or %x
		s32			%d or %x
		u32			%u or %x
		s64			%lld or %llx
		u64			%llu or %llx


If <type> is architecture-dependent for its size (e.g., cycles_t, tcflag_t) or
is dependent on a config option for its size (e.g., blk_status_t), use a format
specifier of its largest possible type and explicitly cast to it.

Example::

	printk("test: latency: %llu cycles\n", (unsigned long long)time);

Reminder: sizeof() returns type size_t.

The kernel's printf does not support %n. Floating point formats (%e, %f,
%g, %a) are also not recognized, for obvious reasons. Use of any
unsupported specifier or length qualifier results in a WARN and early
return from vsnprintf().

Pointer types
=============

A raw pointer value may be printed with %p which will hash the address
before printing. The kernel also supports extended specifiers for printing
pointers of different types.

Some of the extended specifiers print the data on the given address instead
of printing the address itself. In this case, the following error messages
might be printed instead of the unreachable information::

	(null)	 data on plain NULL address
	(efault) data on invalid address
	(einval) invalid data on a valid address

Plain Pointers
--------------

::

	%p	abcdef12 or 00000000abcdef12

Pointers printed without a specifier extension (i.e unadorned %p) are
hashed to prevent leaking information about the kernel memory layout. This
has the added benefit of providing a unique identifier. On 64-bit machines
the first 32 bits are zeroed. The kernel will print ``(ptrval)`` until it
gathers enough entropy.

When possible, use specialised modifiers such as %pS or %pB (described below)
to avoid the need of providing an unhashed address that has to be interpreted
post-hoc. If not possible, and the aim of printing the address is to provide
more information for debugging, use %p and boot the kernel with the
``no_hash_pointers`` parameter during debugging, which will print all %p
addresses unmodified. If you *really* always want the unmodified address, see
%px below.

If (and only if) you are printing addresses as a content of a virtual file in
e.g. procfs or sysfs (using e.g. seq_printf(), not printk()) read by a
userspace process, use the %pK modifier described below instead of %p or %px.

Error Pointers
--------------

::

	%pe	-ENOSPC

For printing error pointers (i.e. a pointer for which IS_ERR() is true)
as a symbolic error name. Error values for which no symbolic name is
known are printed in decimal, while a non-ERR_PTR passed as the
argument to %pe gets treated as ordinary %p.

Symbols/Function Pointers
-------------------------

::

	%pS	versatile_init+0x0/0x110
	%ps	versatile_init
	%pSR	versatile_init+0x9/0x110
		(with __builtin_extract_return_addr() translation)
	%pB	prev_fn_of_versatile_init+0x88/0x88


The ``S`` and ``s`` specifiers are used for printing a pointer in symbolic
format. They result in the symbol name with (S) or without (s)
offsets. If KALLSYMS are disabled then the symbol address is printed instead.

The ``B`` specifier results in the symbol name with offsets and should be
used when printing stack backtraces. The specifier takes into
consideration the effect of compiler optimisations which may occur
when tail-calls are used and marked with the noreturn GCC attribute.

If the pointer is within a module, the module name and optionally build ID is
printed after the symbol name with an extra ``b`` appended to the end of the
specifier.

::

	%pS	versatile_init+0x0/0x110 [module_name]
	%pSb	versatile_init+0x0/0x110 [module_name ed5019fdf5e53be37cb1ba7899292d7e143b259e]
	%pSRb	versatile_init+0x9/0x110 [module_name ed5019fdf5e53be37cb1ba7899292d7e143b259e]
		(with __builtin_extract_return_addr() translation)
	%pBb	prev_fn_of_versatile_init+0x88/0x88 [module_name ed5019fdf5e53be37cb1ba7899292d7e143b259e]

Probed Pointers from BPF / tracing
----------------------------------

::

	%pks	kernel string
	%pus	user string

The ``k`` and ``u`` specifiers are used for printing prior probed memory from
either kernel memory (k) or user memory (u). The subsequent ``s`` specifier
results in printing a string. For direct use in regular vsnprintf() the (k)
and (u) annotation is ignored, however, when used out of BPF's bpf_trace_printk(),
for example, it reads the memory it is pointing to without faulting.

Kernel Pointers
---------------

::

	%pK	01234567 or 0123456789abcdef

For printing kernel pointers which should be hidden from unprivileged
users. The behaviour of %pK depends on the kptr_restrict sysctl - see
Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst for more details.

This modifier is *only* intended when producing content of a file read by
userspace from e.g. procfs or sysfs, not for dmesg. Please refer to the
section about %p above for discussion about how to manage hashing pointers
in printk().

Unmodified Addresses
--------------------

::

	%px	01234567 or 0123456789abcdef

For printing pointers when you *really* want to print the address. Please
consider whether or not you are leaking sensitive information about the
kernel memory layout before printing pointers with %px. %px is functionally
equivalent to %lx (or %lu). %px is preferred because it is more uniquely
grep'able. If in the future we need to modify the way the kernel handles
printing pointers we will be better equipped to find the call sites.

Before using %px, consider if using %p is sufficient together with enabling the
``no_hash_pointers`` kernel parameter during debugging sessions (see the %p
description above). One valid scenario for %px might be printing information
immediately before a panic, which prevents any sensitive information to be
exploited anyway, and with %px there would be no need to reproduce the panic
with no_hash_pointers.

Pointer Differences
-------------------

::

	%td	2560
	%tx	a00

For printing the pointer differences, use the %t modifier for ptrdiff_t.

Example::

	printk("test: difference between pointers: %td\n", ptr2 - ptr1);

Struct Resources
----------------

::

	%pr	[mem 0x60000000-0x6fffffff flags 0x2200] or
		[mem 0x60000000 flags 0x2200] or
		[mem 0x0000000060000000-0x000000006fffffff flags 0x2200]
		[mem 0x0000000060000000 flags 0x2200]
	%pR	[mem 0x60000000-0x6fffffff pref] or
		[mem 0x60000000 pref] or
		[mem 0x0000000060000000-0x000000006fffffff pref]
		[mem 0x0000000060000000 pref]

For printing struct resources. The ``R`` and ``r`` specifiers result in a
printed resource with (R) or without (r) a decoded flags member.  If start is
equal to end only print the start value.

Passed by reference.

Physical address types phys_addr_t
----------------------------------

::

	%pa[p]	0x01234567 or 0x0123456789abcdef

For printing a phys_addr_t type (and its derivatives, such as
resource_size_t) which can vary based on build options, regardless of the
width of the CPU data path.

Passed by reference.

Struct Range
------------

::

	%pra    [range 0x0000000060000000-0x000000006fffffff] or
		[range 0x0000000060000000]

For printing struct range.  struct range holds an arbitrary range of u64
values.  If start is equal to end only print the start value.

Passed by reference.

DMA address types dma_addr_t
----------------------------

::

	%pad	0x01234567 or 0x0123456789abcdef

For printing a dma_addr_t type which can vary based on build options,
regardless of the width of the CPU data path.

Passed by reference.

Raw buffer as an escaped string
-------------------------------

::

	%*pE[achnops]

For printing raw buffer as an escaped string. For the following buffer::

		1b 62 20 5c 43 07 22 90 0d 5d

A few examples show how the conversion would be done (excluding surrounding
quotes)::

		%*pE		"\eb \C\a"\220\r]"
		%*pEhp		"\x1bb \C\x07"\x90\x0d]"
		%*pEa		"\e\142\040\\\103\a\042\220\r\135"

The conversion rules are applied according to an optional combination
of flags (see :c:func:`string_escape_mem` kernel documentation for the
details):

	- a - ESCAPE_ANY
	- c - ESCAPE_SPECIAL
	- h - ESCAPE_HEX
	- n - ESCAPE_NULL
	- o - ESCAPE_OCTAL
	- p - ESCAPE_NP
	- s - ESCAPE_SPACE

By default ESCAPE_ANY_NP is used.

ESCAPE_ANY_NP is the sane choice for many cases, in particularly for
printing SSIDs.

If field width is omitted then 1 byte only will be escaped.

Raw buffer as a hex string
--------------------------

::

	%*ph	00 01 02  ...  3f
	%*phC	00:01:02: ... :3f
	%*phD	00-01-02- ... -3f
	%*phN	000102 ... 3f

For printing small buffers (up to 64 bytes long) as a hex string with a
certain separator. For larger buffers consider using
:c:func:`print_hex_dump`.

MAC/FDDI addresses
------------------

::

	%pM	00:01:02:03:04:05
	%pMR	05:04:03:02:01:00
	%pMF	00-01-02-03-04-05
	%pm	000102030405
	%pmR	050403020100

For printing 6-byte MAC/FDDI addresses in hex notation. The ``M`` and ``m``
specifiers result in a printed address with (M) or without (m) byte
separators. The default byte separator is the colon (:).

Where FDDI addresses are concerned the ``F`` specifier can be used after
the ``M`` specifier to use dash (-) separators instead of the default
separator.

For Bluetooth addresses the ``R`` specifier shall be used after the ``M``
specifier to use reversed byte order suitable for visual interpretation
of Bluetooth addresses which are in the little endian order.

Passed by reference.

IPv4 addresses
--------------

::

	%pI4	1.2.3.4
	%pi4	001.002.003.004
	%p[Ii]4[hnbl]

For printing IPv4 dot-separated decimal addresses. The ``I4`` and ``i4``
specifiers result in a printed address with (i4) or without (I4) leading
zeros.

The additional ``h``, ``n``, ``b``, and ``l`` specifiers are used to specify
host, network, big or little endian order addresses respectively. Where
no specifier is provided the default network/big endian order is used.

Passed by reference.

IPv6 addresses
--------------

::

	%pI6	0001:0002:0003:0004:0005:0006:0007:0008
	%pi6	00010002000300040005000600070008
	%pI6c	1:2:3:4:5:6:7:8

For printing IPv6 network-order 16-bit hex addresses. The ``I6`` and ``i6``
specifiers result in a printed address with (I6) or without (i6)
colon-separators. Leading zeros are always used.

The additional ``c`` specifier can be used with the ``I`` specifier to
print a compressed IPv6 address as described by
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5952

Passed by reference.

IPv4/IPv6 addresses (generic, with port, flowinfo, scope)
---------------------------------------------------------

::

	%pIS	1.2.3.4		or 0001:0002:0003:0004:0005:0006:0007:0008
	%piS	001.002.003.004	or 00010002000300040005000600070008
	%pISc	1.2.3.4		or 1:2:3:4:5:6:7:8
	%pISpc	1.2.3.4:12345	or [1:2:3:4:5:6:7:8]:12345
	%p[Ii]S[pfschnbl]

For printing an IP address without the need to distinguish whether it's of
type AF_INET or AF_INET6. A pointer to a valid struct sockaddr,
specified through ``IS`` or ``iS``, can be passed to this format specifier.

The additional ``p``, ``f``, and ``s`` specifiers are used to specify port
(IPv4, IPv6), flowinfo (IPv6) and scope (IPv6). Ports have a ``:`` prefix,
flowinfo a ``/`` and scope a ``%``, each followed by the actual value.

In case of an IPv6 address the compressed IPv6 address as described by
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5952 is being used if the additional
specifier ``c`` is given. The IPv6 address is surrounded by ``[``, ``]`` in
case of additional specifiers ``p``, ``f`` or ``s`` as suggested by
https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-6man-text-addr-representation-07

In case of IPv4 addresses, the additional ``h``, ``n``, ``b``, and ``l``
specifiers can be used as well and are ignored in case of an IPv6
address.

Passed by reference.

Further examples::

	%pISfc		1.2.3.4		or [1:2:3:4:5:6:7:8]/123456789
	%pISsc		1.2.3.4		or [1:2:3:4:5:6:7:8]%1234567890
	%pISpfc		1.2.3.4:12345	or [1:2:3:4:5:6:7:8]:12345/123456789

UUID/GUID addresses
-------------------

::

	%pUb	00010203-0405-0607-0809-0a0b0c0d0e0f
	%pUB	00010203-0405-0607-0809-0A0B0C0D0E0F
	%pUl	03020100-0504-0706-0809-0a0b0c0e0e0f
	%pUL	03020100-0504-0706-0809-0A0B0C0E0E0F

For printing 16-byte UUID/GUIDs addresses. The additional ``l``, ``L``,
``b`` and ``B`` specifiers are used to specify a little endian order in
lower (l) or upper case (L) hex notation - and big endian order in lower (b)
or upper case (B) hex notation.

Where no additional specifiers are used the default big endian
order with lower case hex notation will be printed.

Passed by reference.

dentry names
------------

::

	%pd{,2,3,4}
	%pD{,2,3,4}

For printing dentry name; if we race with :c:func:`d_move`, the name might
be a mix of old and new ones, but it won't oops.  %pd dentry is a safer
equivalent of %s dentry->d_name.name we used to use, %pd<n> prints ``n``
last components.  %pD does the same thing for struct file.

Passed by reference.

block_device names
------------------

::

	%pg	sda, sda1 or loop0p1

For printing name of block_device pointers.

struct va_format
----------------

::

	%pV

For printing struct va_format structures. These contain a format string
and va_list as follows::

	struct va_format {
		const char *fmt;
		va_list *va;
	};

Implements a "recursive vsnprintf".

Do not use this feature without some mechanism to verify the
correctness of the format string and va_list arguments.

Passed by reference.

Device tree nodes
-----------------

::

	%pOF[fnpPcCF]


For printing device tree node structures. Default behaviour is
equivalent to %pOFf.

	- f - device node full_name
	- n - device node name
	- p - device node phandle
	- P - device node path spec (name + @unit)
	- F - device node flags
	- c - major compatible string
	- C - full compatible string

The separator when using multiple arguments is ':'

Examples::

	%pOF	/foo/bar@0			- Node full name
	%pOFf	/foo/bar@0			- Same as above
	%pOFfp	/foo/bar@0:10			- Node full name + phandle
	%pOFfcF	/foo/bar@0:foo,device:--P-	- Node full name +
	                                          major compatible string +
						  node flags
							D - dynamic
							d - detached
							P - Populated
							B - Populated bus

Passed by reference.

Fwnode handles
--------------

::

	%pfw[fP]

For printing information on an fwnode_handle. The default is to print the full
node name, including the path. The modifiers are functionally equivalent to
%pOF above.

	- f - full name of the node, including the path
	- P - the name of the node including an address (if there is one)

Examples (ACPI)::

	%pfwf	\_SB.PCI0.CIO2.port@1.endpoint@0	- Full node name
	%pfwP	endpoint@0				- Node name

Examples (OF)::

	%pfwf	/ocp@68000000/i2c@48072000/camera@10/port/endpoint - Full name
	%pfwP	endpoint				- Node name

Time and date
-------------

::

	%pt[RT]			YYYY-mm-ddTHH:MM:SS
	%pt[RT]s		YYYY-mm-dd HH:MM:SS
	%pt[RT]d		YYYY-mm-dd
	%pt[RT]t		HH:MM:SS
	%ptSp			<seconds>.<nanoseconds>
	%pt[RST][dt][r][s]

For printing date and time as represented by::

	R  content of struct rtc_time
	S  content of struct timespec64
	T  time64_t type

in human readable format.

By default year will be incremented by 1900 and month by 1.
Use %pt[RT]r (raw) to suppress this behaviour.

The %pt[RT]s (space) will override ISO 8601 separator by using ' ' (space)
instead of 'T' (Capital T) between date and time. It won't have any effect
when date or time is omitted.

The %ptSp is equivalent to %lld.%09ld for the content of the struct timespec64.
When the other specifiers are given, it becomes the respective equivalent of
%ptT[dt][r][s].%09ld. In other words, the seconds are being printed in
the human readable format followed by a dot and nanoseconds.

Passed by reference.

struct clk
----------

::

	%pC	pll1

For printing struct clk structures. %pC prints the name of the clock
(Common Clock Framework) or a unique 32-bit ID (legacy clock framework).

Passed by reference.

bitmap and its derivatives such as cpumask and nodemask
-------------------------------------------------------

::

	%*pb	0779
	%*pbl	0,3-6,8-10

For printing bitmap and its derivatives such as cpumask and nodemask,
%*pb outputs the bitmap with field width as the number of bits and %*pbl
output the bitmap as range list with field width as the number of bits.

The field width is passed by value, the bitmap is passed by reference.
Helper macros cpumask_pr_args() and nodemask_pr_args() are available to ease
printing cpumask and nodemask.

Flags bitfields such as page flags and gfp_flags
--------------------------------------------------------

::

	%pGp	0x17ffffc0002036(referenced|uptodate|lru|active|private|node=0|zone=2|lastcpupid=0x1fffff)
	%pGg	GFP_USER|GFP_DMA32|GFP_NOWARN
	%pGv	read|exec|mayread|maywrite|mayexec|denywrite

For printing flags bitfields as a collection of symbolic constants that
would construct the value. The type of flags is given by the third
character. Currently supported are:

        - p - [p]age flags, expects value of type (``unsigned long *``)
        - v - [v]ma_flags, expects value of type (``unsigned long *``)
        - g - [g]fp_flags, expects value of type (``gfp_t *``)

The flag names and print order depends on the particular type.

Note that this format should not be used directly in the
:c:func:`TP_printk()` part of a tracepoint. Instead, use the show_*_flags()
functions from <trace/events/mmflags.h>.

Passed by reference.

Network device features
-----------------------

::

	%pNF	0x000000000000c000

For printing netdev_features_t.

Passed by reference.

V4L2 and DRM FourCC code (pixel format)
---------------------------------------

::

	%p4cc

Print a FourCC code used by V4L2 or DRM, including format endianness and
its numerical value as hexadecimal.

Passed by reference.

Examples::

	%p4cc	BG12 little-endian (0x32314742)
	%p4cc	Y10  little-endian (0x20303159)
	%p4cc	NV12 big-endian (0xb231564e)

Generic FourCC code
-------------------

::
	%p4c[h[R]lb]	gP00 (0x67503030)

Print a generic FourCC code, as both ASCII characters and its numerical
value as hexadecimal.

The generic FourCC code is always printed in the big-endian format,
the most significant byte first. This is the opposite of V4L/DRM FourCCs.

The additional ``h``, ``hR``, ``l``, and ``b`` specifiers define what
endianness is used to load the stored bytes. The data might be interpreted
using the host, reversed host byte order, little-endian, or big-endian.

Passed by reference.

Examples for a little-endian machine, given &(u32)0x67503030::

	%p4ch	gP00 (0x67503030)
	%p4chR	00Pg (0x30305067)
	%p4cl	gP00 (0x67503030)
	%p4cb	00Pg (0x30305067)

Examples for a big-endian machine, given &(u32)0x67503030::

	%p4ch	gP00 (0x67503030)
	%p4chR	00Pg (0x30305067)
	%p4cl	00Pg (0x30305067)
	%p4cb	gP00 (0x67503030)

Rust
----

::

	%pA

Only intended to be used from Rust code to format ``core::fmt::Arguments``.
Do *not* use it from C.

Thanks
======

If you add other %p extensions, please extend <lib/tests/printf_kunit.c>
with one or more test cases, if at all feasible.

Thank you for your cooperation and attention.
