SYNOPSIS
string sprintf(string fmt, ...)
DESCRIPTION
Most of the characters in the format string (FMT) get passed
straight through to the output (ie: printed or put in the
return string), to format the arguments into the string it is
necessary to include an argument format string (AFS) in the
FMT. An AFS is a series of characters starting with a percent
sign "%" and terminated with a argument type specifier.
To include a "%" sign in the output, it is necessary to include a
double percent sign "%%". The sequence "%^" will output "%^" again.
Valid argument type specifiers are:
"s" : the argument is a string.
"d" : the argument is an integer to be included in decimal
representation.
"i" : same as "d".
"b" : the argument is an integer to be included in binary
representation.
"o" : the argument is an integer to be included in octal
representation.
"x" : the argument is an integer to be included in hexadecimal
representation.
"X" : as "x" except letters are capitalised.
"e","E","f","g","G" : the argument is a float to be included in
decimal representation; see examples for details
"c" : the argument is an int to included as a character
"O" : the argument is an LPC datatype to be printed in an arbituary
format, this is for debugging purposes.
If the argument is an object then the function
printf_obj_name() on the master object is called with the
object as a parameter, the string returned is included in
brackets at the end of object file name.
If 0 is returned then nothing is appended after the file name.
"Q" Like "O", except that special characters in strings are
printed in LPC notation.
Between the percent sign and the argument type specifier in
the AFS, the following modifiers can be included to specify
the formatting information. Order is not important unless
otherwise specified. "n" is used to specify a integer, which
can be a "*" in which case the next argument is used as the
number.
Modifiers:
n specifies the field size. If the size is prepended with
a 0, the argument is printed with leading zeroes.
"."n specifies the precision, for simple (not columns or tables)
strings specifies the truncation length.
":"n n specifies both the field size _and_ the presision, if n is
prepended by a zero then the pad string is set to "0".
"'X'" the pad string is set to the char(s) between the single
quotes, if the field size is also prepended with a zero then
which ever is specified last will overrule.
NOTE: to include "'" in the pad string, you must use "\\'"
(as the backslash has to be escaped past the interpreter),
similarly, to include "\" requires "\\\\".
" " pad positive integers with a space.
"+" pad positive integers with a plus sign.
"-" left aligned within field size.
NB: std (s)printf() defaults to right alignment, which is
unnatural in the context of a mainly string based language
but has been retained for "compatibility" ;)
"|" centered within field size.
"$" justified to field size. Ignored unless the type specifier
is 's'.
"=" column mode. Ignored unless the argument type specifier is 's'.
Field size must be specified, if precision is specified then
it specifies the width for the string to be wordwrapped in, if
not then the field size is. The field size specifies the width
of the column and has the effect that the last line of the
column is padded with spaces to achieve this length.
"#" For strings: table mode.
Field size must be specified, if precision is
specified then it specifies the number of columns in
the table, otherwise the number is "optimally"
generated (as few lines and columns as possible).
Table mode is passed a list of backslash-n separated
'words' which are put in a format similar to that of
ls.
For %O/%Q: compact output.
"@" the argument is an array. the corresponding AFS (minus all
"@") is applied to each element of the array.
When the formatting of an element results in several output lines
(column or table mode) and no explicit pad strings has been
defined, then the efun removes any padding whitespace before
the newlines of all but the last line. However, if an explicit
pad string has been given, even if it is the simple ' ', then
the padding will not be removed.
EXAMPLES
sprintf("decimal=%d, octal=%o, hexadecimal=%x\n", 7, 7, 7);
sprintf("array=%O\n", ({1, 2, 3}));
this will return the following:
({ /* sizeof() == 3 */
1,
2,
3
})
An array will be printed recursively and each element of the
array will be indented. Can also be used as a debugging tool.
sprintf("%-*#s\n", 80, implode(get_dir("~/."), "\n"));
sprintf("foo") // returns "foo"
sprintf("%s","foo") // returns "foo"
sprintf("%7s","foo") // returns " foo"
sprintf("%-7s","foo") // returns "foo "
sprintf("%|7s","foo") // returns " foo "
sprintf("%7'.'s","foo") // returns "....foo"
sprintf("%-7'+-'s","foo") // returns "foo+-+-"
sprintf("%|9'-+'s","foo") // returns "-+-foo-+-"
sprintf("%3s","foobarbloh") // returns "foobarbloh"
sprintf("%3.6s","foobarbloh") // returns "foobar"
sprintf("%6.3s","foobarbloh") // returns " foo"
sprintf("%:6s","foobarbloh") // returns "foobar"
sprintf("%:3s","foobarbloh") // returns "foo"
sprintf("%*.*s",-7,2,"foobarbloh") // returns "fo "
sprintf("%=12s","this is a very long sentence\n")
// returns " this is a\n"
// " very long\n"
// " sentence\n"
sprintf("%=-12s","this is a very long sentence\n")
// returns "this is a\n"
// "very long\n"
// "sentence\n"
sprintf("%=|12s","this is a very long sentence\n")
// returns " this is a\n"
// " very long\n"
// " sentence\n"
sprintf("%=10.6s","this is a very long sentence\n")
// returns " this\n"
// " is a\n"
// " very\n"
// " long\n"
// " senten\n"
// " ce\n"
sprintf("%#-40.3s",
"one\ntwo\nthree\nfour\nfive\nsix\nseven\neight\nnine\nten\n")
// returns "one five nine\n"
// "two six ten\n"
// "three seven \n"
// "four eight "
sprintf("%#-40s",
"one\ntwo\nthree\nfour\nfive\nsix\nseven\neight\nnine\nten\n")
// returns "one three five seven nine\n"
// "two four six eight ten"
sprintf("%@-5s",({"foo","bar","bloh"})) // returns "foo bar bloh "
sprintf("%d",123) // returns "123"
sprintf("%7d",123) // returns " 123"
sprintf("%-7d",123) // returns "123" (yes, really)
sprintf("%d/%d",123,-123) // returns "123/-123"
sprintf("% d/% d",123,-123) // returns " 123/-123"
sprintf("%+d/%+d",123,-123) // returns "+123/-123"
sprintf("%+6d/%6d",123,123) // returns " +123/ 123"
sprintf("%|6d",123) // returns " 123" (yes, really)
sprintf("%|10d",123) // returns " 123" (yes, really)
sprintf("%|10d%3s",123,"foo") // returns " 123 foo"
sprintf("%o",16) // returns "20"
sprintf("%'0'3o",8) // returns "010"
sprintf("%x",123) // returns "7b"
sprintf("%X",123) // returns "7B"
sprintf("%f",123.5) // returns "124"
sprintf("%8.3f",123.5) // returns " 123.500"
sprintf("%E",123.5) // returns "1E+02"
sprintf("%12.4e",123.5) // returns " 1.2350e+02"
sprintf("%g",123.5) // returns "124"
sprintf("%8.3G",123.5) // returns " 124"
sprintf("%8.6g",123.5) // returns " 123.5"
HISTORY
LDMud 3.2.9 added the "%^" sequence for compatibility with
terminal_colour(), added the "%Q" sequence, clarified the meaning of
leading 0s in the field size modifier, clarified the interaction
between the padding and newlines, and added the '$' formatter for
justified printing of strings.
LDMud 3.2.10 added modifier '#' for '%O'/'%Q' and the datatype '%b'.
SEE ALSO
printf(E), terminal_colour(E)
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