My version:

~⦒zsh --version           ▮▮▮▮▮▮▯▯▯▯ 17:26:13
zsh 5.9 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)

I am trying out variations suggested here:  https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/408867/how-to-colorize-some-of-the-output-of-a-shell-script

and am confused.

One of the last (I expect ideal) suggestions is:

% text=xyz

% printf '%s\n' "${(%):-%F{green}}$text${(%):-%f}"

When I try it:

~⦒printf '%s\n' "${(%):-%F{blue}}test${(%):-%f}"                           ▮▮▮▮▮▯▯▯▯▯ 17:33:45
}test

I have a trailing `}' which I think I should not see.

If I split this up,

~⦒printf '%s.%s.%s\n' "${(%):-%F{blue}}" "test" "${(%):-%f}"               ▮▮▮▮▮▯▯▯▯▯ 17:35:41
}.test.
~⦒printf '%s.%s.%s\n' "${(%):-%F{blue}}${(%):-%B}" "test" "${(%):-%b}${(%):-%f}"
}.test.

same result.  The extra parenthesis, but the %B/%b print codes worked as expected.


If my reading of the zsh man pages is correct, this one should be identical to the last one above, 


~⦒printf '%s.%s.%s\n' "${(%):-%F{blue}%B}" "test" "${(%):-%b}${(%):-%f}"
%B}.test.


Instead I get the above `%B}' in the output.

What would I be missing?

Curious,

Kannan