From the NannyMUD documentation
2006-09-22
NAME
sprintf - Format a string.SYNTAX
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 "%%". sprintf() will handle strings upto 24573 characters long after expansion of all tokens. 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". "o" : the argument is an integer to be included in octal representation. "x" : the argument is an integer to be included in hexidecimal representation. "X" : as "x" except letters are capitalised. "c" : the argument is an int to included as a character "O" : the argument is an LPC datatype to be printed in an arbitrary format. This is for debugging purposes. If the argument is an object then the function object_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. 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 prepended with a zero then the pad string is set to "0". "."n : specifies the presision, 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 adjusted within field size. NB: std (s)printf() defaults to right justification, which is unnatural in the context of a mainly string based language but has been retained for "compatability" ;) "|" : centered within field size. "=" : 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. "#" : table mode. Ignored unless the argument type specifier is s. 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. Table mode is passed a list of backslash-n separated 'words' which are put in a format similar to that of ls. "@" : the argument is an array. the corresponding AFS (minus all "@") is applied to each element of the array.EXAMPLE
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("%#-18.3s","one\ntwo\nthree\nfour\nfive\nsix\nseven\neight\n" "nine"\nten\n") // returns "one five nine\n" // "two six ten\n" // "three seven \n" // "four eight \n" 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"