From the NannyMUD documentation

LAST CHANGE

2000-12-14

FUNCTION

NAME
        sscanf - Parse a string with a given format.


SYNTAX
	int sscanf(string str, string fmt, mixed var1, mixed var2 ...)

DESCRIPTION
	Parse string `str' with the format `fmt' and return matched
	pieces in the given variables. %s, %d and %c in the format string
        refers to a string, a number and a character respectively.
	The variables must be defined earlier as `strings' for those
	connected to a %s and `int' for those connected to a %d or a %c.

	You can now also use %*s, %*d and %*c in the format string. These
	correspond to %s, %d and %c respectively but do not need a matching
	variable for the result, thus eliminating unnecessary temporary
	variables if you're only interested in the pattern and not
	the actual contents of the string.

	The returned value is the number of succesful matches.


EXAMPLE
	sscanf("good morning", "%s %s", var1, var2) == 2
		var1 is set to "good" and var2 to "morning"

	sscanf("10 hi", "%d ", var) == 1
		var is set to 10

	sscanf("from bag", "%s %d", var1, var) == 1
		var1 is set to from and var is unchanged

	sscanf(file_name(this_object()), "%*s#%*d") == 2
		this_object() is a clone