repeat

#!/bin/bash -e

# Activate debug mode
if [[ "$DEBUG" ]]; then
  PS4='L${LINENO}: '
  set -x
fi


# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
OPTS=$(getopt -o c:w:hv --long character:,width:,help,version \
              -n "${0##*/}" -- "$@") \
              || { echo "Terminating..." >&2; exit 1; }
eval set -- "$OPTS"

version(){
cat<<EOF
${0##*/} 2019.06.1

Copyright (C) 2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Written by Yaswant Pradhan.
EOF
}

usage(){
cat<<EOF
${0##*/} Repeat a character (or string) n times.

Usage: ${0##*/} [OPTION]

Options:
  -c, --character[=VALUE]  char/string to repeat (default '-')
  -n, --wide[=VALUE]    number of times to repeat (default 80)
  -h, --help            print this help and exit
  -v, --version         print version and exit

Examples:
    repeat x 80
    repeat 'abc ' 10
    repeat -c '\/' -n 5

Report bugs to <yaswant.pradhan@metoffice.gov.uk>

EOF
}
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

while true; do
  case "$1" in
    -c |--character)  c="$2"; shift 2 ;;
    -w |--width)      n="$2"; shift 2 ;;
    -h |--help )      usage; exit 0 ;;
    -v |--version )   version; exit 0 ;;
    -- )              shift; break ;;
    * )               break ;;
  esac
done
c=${c:-${1:-'-'}}
n=${n:-${2:-80}}
# single character repeat
# printf "%${n}s\n" | tr " " "$c"

# multi-character repeat
str=$(printf "%${n}s")
printf "%s\n" "${str// /$c}"