Re: Adding %n$ conversions to the printf utility (printf(1))

[Stephane Chazelas via austin-group-l at The Open Group]

2021-09-10 22:46:26 +0100, Stephane Chazelas via austin-group-l at The Open 
Group:
[...]
> I've personally used the feature to reorder items in sets, so
> would object to precluding reusing arguments.
[...]

As mentioned on that mailing list and it's still undocumented,
-r can be used with print -f to disable reuse:

~$ print -f '%2$s %1$s\n' -- {1..6}
2 1
4 3
6 5
~$ print -rf '%2$s %1$s\n' -- {1..6}
2 1

-- 
Stephane