The printf(3) manpage says that a negative precision is taken to be
zero, whereas printf(3p) says that a negative precision is taken as if
the precision were omitted. glibc agrees with the latter (posix)
specification.
Test code:
printf("%f\n",42.0); // "42.000000"
printf("%.*f\n",0,42.0); // "42"
printf("%.*f\n",-1,42.0); // "42.000000"
This patch corrects the explanation to match what actually happens.
diff --git i/man3/printf.3 w/man3/printf.3
index f5e96d3..2c86bf1 100644
--- i/man3/printf.3
+++ w/man3/printf.3
@@ -409,8 +409,9 @@ Instead of a decimal digit string one may write
"*" or "*mquot;
is given in the next argument, or in the m-th argument, respectively,
which must be of type
.IR int .
-If the precision is given as just \(aq.\(aq, or the precision is negative,
-the precision is taken to be zero.
+If the precision is given as just \(aq.\(aq, the precision is taken to
+be zero. A negative precision is taken as if the precision were
+omitted.
This gives the minimum number of digits to appear for
.BR d ,
.BR i ,
--
Chris Hall
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