VMS Help CC, Run-time functions, printf  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

  Performs formatted output to the standard output (stdout).

  Syntax:

       #include <stdio.h>

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

  where the ...  represents optional expressions whose resultant
  types correspond to conversion specifications given in the format
  specification.  If no conversion specifications are given, you may
  omit the output sources.  Otherwise, the function call must have
  exactly as many output sources as there are conversion
  specifications, and the conversion specifications must match the
  types of the output sources.  Conversion specifications are matched
  to output sources in left-to-right order.

  The format string for the output of information can contain two
  kinds of items:

   o  Ordinary characters, which are copied to the output.

   o  Conversion specifications, each of which causes the conversion
      of a corresponding output source to a character string in a
      particular format.  Conversion specifications are matched to
      output sources in left-to-right order.

 A conversion specification consists of a % (or a %n$), followed by
 one or more optional characters, and concluding with a conversion
 specifier.

  Additional Information (explode) :

• Optional character
• Conversion Specifier