10.1. printf Format Strings

Note

This page is under construction.

A printf format string is a template for generating a string of text from variable parts. It consists of a format specification containing literal elements and format specifiers (placeholders with formatting hints), and a list of expressions for each placeholder's value.

A printf interpreter is a template engine that accepts a printf format string as input and produces an output string from it, based on its implementation-dependent capabilities to compute the value of expressions and on context-dependent variables.

The LOCKSS software contains a printf interpreter where the expressions are names of Plugin Configuration Parameters and AU attributes, optionally modified by a small number of processing functions.

10.1.1. printf Format String Format

A printf format specification starts and ends with a quotation mark (") and follows the printf specification syntax.

For each format specifier in the format specification, the value of an expression is computed and substituted for the format specifier. The successive expressions correspond to the format specifiers in the order they appear in the format specification.

The format specification and the expressions are comma-separated, with whitespace surrounding the elements trimmed.

Anything that is not recognized as a format specifier is interepreted to be a literal part of the output string.

10.1.2. printf Format Specifiers

Format specifiers begin with a percent sign (%) and end with a type field, separated by optional characters further constraining the formatting of the placeholder's value. The most important type fields are:

  • %s: for string-valued expressions.

  • %d: for integer-valued expressions.

  • %% for a literal percent sign.

10.1.2.1. String Specifier

The most common format specifier is %s for string-valued expressions. Example:

Input:

"The base URL is %s", base_url

Output in a context where base_url is http://www.example.com/:

The base URL is http://www.example.com/

10.1.2.2. Integer Specifier

The format specifier %d is used for an integer-valued expression. Example:

Input:

"The year is %d", year

Output in a context where year is the integer 2022:

The year is 2022

10.1.2.3. Percent Sign Specifier

Because the percent sign is used to introduce format specifiers, there is type field to indicate that a placeholder is for a literal percent sign, and that type field is also the percent sign. Examples:

Input:

"100%% of the time"

Output:

100% of the time

Input:

"100% of the time"

Output: error

References