seq

Print a sequence of numbers to standard output

Syntax
      seq [-w] [-f format] [-s string] [-t string] [first [incr]] last

Options

 -f format
     Use a printf(3) style format to print each number.
     Only the E, e, f, G, g, and % conversion characters are valid, along with any optional
     flags and an optional numeric minimum field width or precision.
     The format can contain character escape sequences in backslash notation as defined
     in ANSI X3.159-1989 (``ANSI C89'').  The default is %g.

 -s string
     Use string to separate numbers.
     The string can contain character escape sequences in backslash notation as defined in ANSI X3.159-1989
     (ANSI C89).  The default is \n. (a newline).

 -t string
     Use string to terminate sequence of numbers.
     The string can contain character escape sequences in backslash notation as defined in ANSI X3.159-1989
     (ANSI C89).  This option is useful when the default separator does not contain a \n.

 -w
     Equalize the widths of all numbers by padding with zeros as necessary.
     This option has no effect with the -f option.
     If any sequence numbers will be printed in exponential notation, the default
     conversion is changed to %e.

The seq utility prints a sequence of numbers, one per line (default), from first (default 1), to near last as possible, in increments of incr (default 1). When first is larger than last the default incr is -1.

All numbers are interpreted as floating point. Normally integer values are printed as decimal integers.

The -w option does not handle the transition from pure floating point to exponent representation very well. The seq command is not bug for bug compatible with the Plan 9 from Bell Labs or GNU versions of seq.

Examples

Counting in integer and decimal steps:

$ seq 1 3
1
2
3

$ seq 3 1
3
2
1

$ seq -w 0 .05 .1
0.00
0.05
0.10

$ seq 100
1
2
...

You can also produce a sequence with the for command

for ((myseq=0; myseq<50; myseq++))
do
echo The sequence is ${myseq}
done
fi

“The idea of a Being who interferes with the sequence of events in the world is absolutely impossible” ~ Albert Einstein

Related macOS commands

expr - Evaluate expressions.
for - Expand words, and execute commands
nl - Number lines and write files.
printf - Format and print data