printf man page on BSDi

Man page or keyword search:  
man Server   6284 pages
apropos Keyword Search (all sections)
Output format
BSDi logo
[printable version]

PRINTF(3)		    BSD Programmer's Manual		     PRINTF(3)

NAME
     printf, fprintf, sprintf, snprintf, vprintf, vfprintf, vsprintf,
     vsnprintf - formatted output conversion

SYNOPSIS
     #include <stdio.h>

     int
     printf(const char *format, ...);

     int
     fprintf(FILE *stream, const char *format, ...);

     int
     sprintf(char *str, const char *format, ...);

     int
     snprintf(char *str, size_t size, const char *format, ...);

     #include <stdarg.h>

     int
     vprintf(const char *format, va_list ap);

     int
     vfprintf(FILE *stream, const char *format, va_list ap);

     int
     vsprintf(char *str, char *format, va_list ap);

     int
     vsnprintf(char *str, size_t size, const char *format, va_list ap);

DESCRIPTION
     The printf() family of functions produces output according to a format as
     described below.  Printf() and vprintf() write output to stdout, the
     standard output stream; fprintf() and vfprintf() write output to the giv-
     en output stream; sprintf(), snprintf(), vsprintf(), and vsnprintf()
     write to the character string str. These functions write the output under
     the control of a format string that specifies how subsequent arguments
     (or arguments accessed via the variable-length argument facilities of
     stdarg(3))	 are converted for output.  These functions return the number
     of characters printed (not including the trailing `\0' used to end output
     to strings).  Snprintf() and vsnprintf() will write at most size-1 of the
     characters printed into the output string (the size'th character then
     gets the terminating `\0'); if the return value is greater than or equal
     to the size argument, the string was too short and some of the printed
     characters were discarded.	 The size may be given as zero to find out how
     many characters are needed; in this case, the str argument is ignored.
     Sprintf() and vsprintf() effectively assume an infinite size.

     The format string is composed of zero or more directives: ordinary char-
     acters (not %), which are copied unchanged to the output stream; and con-
     version specifications, each of which results in fetching zero or more
     subsequent arguments.  Each conversion specification is introduced by the
     character %. The arguments must correspond properly (after type promo-
     tion) with the conversion specifier.  After the %, the following appear
     in sequence:

     o	 Zero or more of the following flags:

	 -   A # character specifying that the value should be converted to an
	     ``alternate form''.  For c, d, i, n, p, s, and u, conversions,
	     this option has no effect.	 For o conversions, the precision of
	     the number is increased to force the first character of the out-
	     put string to a zero (except if a zero value is printed with an
	     explicit precision of zero).  For x and X conversions, a non-zero
	     result has the string `0x' (or `0X' for X conversions) prepended
	     to it.  For e, E, f, g, and G, conversions, the result will al-
	     ways contain a decimal point, even if no digits follow it (nor-
	     mally, a decimal point appears in the results of those conver-
	     sions only if a digit follows).  For g and G conversions, trail-
	     ing zeros are not removed from the result as they would otherwise
	     be.

	 -   A zero `0' character specifying zero padding.  For all conver-
	     sions except n, the converted value is padded on the left with
	     zeros rather than blanks.	If a precision is given with a numeric
	     conversion (d, i, o, u, i, x, and X), the `0' flag is ignored.

	 -   A negative field width flag `-' indicates the converted value is
	     to be left adjusted on the field boundary.	 Except for n conver-
	     sions, the converted value is padded on the right with blanks,
	     rather than on the left with blanks or zeros.  A `-' overrides a
	     `0' if both are given.

	 -   A space, specifying that a blank should be left before a positive
	     number produced by a signed conversion (d, e, E, f, g, G, or i).

	 -   A `+' character specifying that a sign always be placed before a
	     number produced by a signed conversion.  A `+' overrides a space
	     if both are used.

     o	 An optional decimal digit string specifying a minimum field width.
	 If the converted value has fewer characters than the field width, it
	 will be padded with spaces on the left (or right, if the left-adjust-
	 ment flag has been given) to fill out the field width.

     o	 An optional precision, in the form of a period `.' followed by an op-
	 tional digit string.  If the digit string is omitted, the precision
	 is taken as zero.  This gives the minimum number of digits to appear
	 for d, i, o, u, x, and X conversions, the number of digits to appear
	 after the decimal-point for e, E, and f conversions, the maximum num-
	 ber of significant digits for g and G conversions, or the maximum
	 number of characters to be printed from a string for s conversions.

     o	 The optional character h, specifying that a following d, i, o, u, x,
	 or X conversion corresponds to a short int or unsigned short int ar-
	 gument, or that a following n conversion corresponds to a pointer to
	 a short int argument.

     o	 The optional character l (ell) specifying that a following d, i, o,
	 u, x, or X conversion applies to a pointer to a long int or unsigned
	 long int argument, or that a following n conversion corresponds to a
	 pointer to a long int argument.

     o	 The optional character q, specifying that a following d, i, o, u, x,
	 or X conversion corresponds to a quad_t or u_quad_t argument, or that
	 a following n conversion corresponds to a pointer to a quad_t argu-
	 ment.	The extended-precision quad_t and corresponding unsigned
	 u_quad_t types are defined in <sys/types.h>. Two l conversion option
	 characters are equivalent to a single q.

     o	 The character L specifying that a following e, E, f, g, or G conver-
	 sion corresponds to a long double argument (but note that long double
	 values are not currently supported by the VAX and Tahoe compilers).

     o	 A character that specifies the type of conversion to be applied.

     A field width or precision, or both, may be indicated by an asterisk `*'
     instead of a digit string.	 In this case, an int argument supplies the
     field width or precision.	A negative field width is treated as a left
     adjustment flag followed by a positive field width; a negative precision
     is treated as though it were missing.

     The conversion specifiers and their meanings are:

     diouxX  The int (or appropriate variant) argument is converted to signed
	     decimal (d and i), unsigned octal (o), unsigned decimal (u), or
	     unsigned hexadecimal (x and X) notation.  The letters abcdef are
	     used for x conversions; the letters ABCDEF are used for X conver-
	     sions.  The precision, if any, gives the minimum number of digits
	     that must appear; if the converted value requires fewer digits,
	     it is padded on the left with zeros.

     DOU     The long int argument is converted to signed decimal, unsigned
	     octal, or unsigned decimal, as if the format had been ld, lo, or
	     lu respectively.  These conversion characters are deprecated, and
	     will eventually disappear.

     eE	     The double argument is rounded and converted in the style
	     [-]d.ddde+-dd where there is one digit before the decimal-point
	     character and the number of digits after it is equal to the pre-
	     cision; if the precision is missing, it is taken as 6; if the
	     precision is zero, no decimal-point character appears.  An E con-
	     version uses the letter E (rather than e) to introduce the expo-
	     nent.  The exponent always contains at least two digits; if the
	     value is zero, the exponent is 00.	 A value of infinity is print-
	     ed as inf or infinity depending on the available field width with
	     a conversion character of e and as INF or INFINITY with a conver-
	     sion character of E. Double values that are not-a-number are
	     printed as nan with a conversion character of e and as NAN with a
	     conversion character of E.

     fF	     The double argument is rounded and converted to decimal notation
	     in the style [-]ddd.ddd, where the number of digits after the
	     decimal-point character is equal to the precision specification.
	     If the precision is missing, it is taken as 6; if the precision
	     is explicitly zero, no decimal-point character appears.  If a
	     decimal point appears, at least one digit appears before it.  In-
	     finite and not-a-number values are printed as for the e and E
	     conversion characters.

     gG	     The double argument is converted in style f or e (or E for G con-
	     versions).	 The precision specifies the number of significant
	     digits.  If the precision is missing, 6 digits are given; if the
	     precision is zero, it is treated as 1.  Style e is used if the
	     exponent from its conversion is less than -4 or greater than or
	     equal to the precision.  Trailing zeros are removed from the
	     fractional part of the result; a decimal point appears only if it
	     is followed by at least one digit.

     c	     The int argument is converted to an unsigned char, and the re-
	     sulting character is written.

     s	     The ``char *'' argument is expected to be a pointer to an array
	     of character type (pointer to a string).  Characters from the ar-
	     ray are written up to (but not including) a terminating NUL char-
	     acter; if a precision is specified, no more than the number spec-
	     ified are written.	 If a precision is given, no null character
	     need be present; if the precision is not specified, or is greater
	     than the size of the array, the array must contain a terminating

	     NUL character.

     p	     The ``void *'' pointer argument is printed in hexadecimal (as if
	     by `%#x' or `%#lx').

     n	     The number of characters written so far is stored into the inte-
	     ger indicated by the ``int *'' (or variant) pointer argument.  No
	     argument is converted.

     %	     A `%' is written. No argument is converted. The complete conver-
	     sion specification is `%%'.

     In no case does a non-existent or small field width cause truncation of a
     field; if the result of a conversion is wider than the field width, the
     field is expanded to contain the conversion result.

EXAMPLES
     To print a date and time in the form `Sunday, July 3, 10:02', where
     weekday and month are pointers to strings:

	   #include <stdio.h>
	   fprintf(stdout, "%s, %s %d, %.2d:%.2d\n",
		   weekday, month, day, hour, min);

     To print pi to five decimal places:

	   #include <math.h>
	   #include <stdio.h>
	   fprintf(stdout, "pi = %.5f\n", 4 * atan(1.0));

     To allocate a 128 byte string and print into it:

	   #include <stdio.h>
	   #include <stdlib.h>
	   #include <stdarg.h>
	   char *newfmt(const char *fmt, ...)
	   {
			   char *p;
			   va_list ap;
			   if ((p = malloc(128)) == NULL)
				   return (NULL);
			   va_start(ap, fmt);
			   (void) vsnprintf(p, 128, fmt, ap);
			   va_end(ap);
			   return (p);
	   }

SEE ALSO
     printf(1),	 scanf(3)

STANDARDS
     The fprintf(), printf(), sprintf(), vprintf(), vfprintf(), and vsprintf()
     functions conform to ANSI C X3.159-1989 (``ANSI C '').

HISTORY
     The functions snprintf() and vsnprintf() are new to this release.

BUGS
     The conversion formats %D, %O, and %U are not standard and are provided
     only for backward compatibility.  The effect of padding the %p format
     with zeros (either by the `0' flag or by specifying a precision), and the
     benign effect (i.e., none) of the `#' flag on %n and %p conversions, as
     well as other nonsensical combinations such as %Ld, are not standard;
     such combinations should be avoided.

     Because sprintf() and vsprintf() assume an infinitely long string,
     callers must be careful not to overflow the actual space; this is often
     impossible to assure.  For safety, programmers should use the snprintf()
     interface instead.	 Unfortunately, this interface is not portable.

     The typedef names quad_t and u_quad_t are infelicitous.

BSDI BSD/OS			 June 4, 1993				     5
[top]

List of man pages available for BSDi

Copyright (c) for man pages and the logo by the respective OS vendor.

For those who want to learn more, the polarhome community provides shell access and support.

[legal] [privacy] [GNU] [policy] [cookies] [netiquette] [sponsors] [FAQ]
Tweet
Polarhome, production since 1999.
Member of Polarhome portal.
Based on Fawad Halim's script.
....................................................................
Vote for polarhome
Free Shell Accounts :: the biggest list on the net