[pixelbeat]

GNU seq uses this trick:

slow path:

    seq -f '%.1f' inf | pv > /dev/null
     ...[  12MiB/s]

fast path:

    seq inf | pv > /dev/null
     ...[ 491MiB/s]

[zbentley]

Can you explain that a bit more? I know "seq", but am unsure what your examples are illustrating. Thanks!

[taejo]

-f specifies a format, so it can't use the specialized itoa implementation, but probably just uses printf.