Além da resposta do @ mikeserv, você pode ver a lista completa de controles de formato para saída de man 1 printf
:
\" double quote
\ backslash
\a alert (BEL)
\b backspace
\c produce no further output
\e escape
\f form feed
\n new line
\r carriage return
\t horizontal tab
\v vertical tab
\NNN byte with octal value NNN (1 to 3 digits)
\xHH byte with hexadecimal value HH (1 to 2 digits)
\uHHHH Unicode (ISO/IEC 10646) character with hex value HHHH (4 digits)
\UHHHHHHHH
Unicode character with hex value HHHHHHHH (8 digits)
%% a single %
%b ARGUMENT as a string with '\' escapes interpreted, except that
octal escapes are of the form \" double quote
\ backslash
\a alert (BEL)
\b backspace
\c produce no further output
\e escape
\f form feed
\n new line
\r carriage return
\t horizontal tab
\v vertical tab
\NNN byte with octal value NNN (1 to 3 digits)
\xHH byte with hexadecimal value HH (1 to 2 digits)
\uHHHH Unicode (ISO/IEC 10646) character with hex value HHHH (4 digits)
\UHHHHHHHH
Unicode character with hex value HHHHHHHH (8 digits)
%% a single %
%b ARGUMENT as a string with '\' escapes interpreted, except that
octal escapes are of the form %pre% or %pre%NNN
or %pre%NNN
Você deve ler man <command name>
para aprender a usar o comando em qualquer *nix
OS.