bash & printf: minus sign at start of string: invalid option

[^rooker]

[PROBLEM]
When using printf in bash scripts, it might accidentially happen that someone starts the formatting string with a "-" (hyphen/minus) character.
Printf will interpret this as parameter and (a) either do something that wasn't intended, or (b) throw the following error message:

bash: printf: - : invalid option
printf: usage: printf [-v var] format [arguments]

[SOLUTION]
To solve this, the "-" sign has to be disarmed.
Add the string "--" as first argument before the format string and it should work.

Example:

Code: Select all

printf -- "- Name: %s" "$NAME"