SYNOPSIS
        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 "%%". The sequence "%^" will output "%^" again.

        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".
          "b" : the argument is an integer to be included in binary
                representation.
          "o" : the argument is an integer to be included in octal
                representation.
          "x" : the argument is an integer to be included in hexadecimal
                representation.
          "X" : as "x" except letters are capitalised.
          "e","E","f","g","G" : the argument is a float to be included in
                decimal representation; see examples for details
          "c" : the argument is an int to included as a character
          "O" : the argument is an LPC datatype to be printed in an arbituary
                format, this is for debugging purposes.
                If the argument is an object then the function
                printf_obj_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.
          "Q"   Like "O", except that special characters in strings are
                printed in LPC notation.

                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 the size is prepended with
                a 0, the argument is printed with leading zeroes.
          "."n  specifies the precision, 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 aligned within field size.
                NB: std (s)printf() defaults to right alignment, which is
                    unnatural in the context of a mainly string based language
                    but has been retained for "compatibility" ;)
          "|"   centered within field size.
          "$"   justified to field size. Ignored unless the type specifier
                is 's'.
          "="   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 and has the effect that the last line of the
                column is padded with spaces to achieve this length.
          "#"   For strings: table mode.
                  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 (as few lines and columns as possible).
                  Table mode is passed a list of backslash-n separated
                  'words' which are put in a format similar to that of
                  ls.
                For %O/%Q: compact output.
          "@"   the argument is an array.  the corresponding AFS (minus all
                "@") is applied to each element of the array.

        When the formatting of an element results in several output lines
        (column or table mode) and no explicit pad strings has been
        defined, then the efun removes any padding whitespace before
        the newlines of all but the last line. However, if an explicit
        pad string has been given, even if it is the simple ' ', then
        the padding will not be removed.


EXAMPLES
        sprintf("decimal=%d, octal=%o, hexadecimal=%x\n", 7, 7, 7);

        sprintf("array=%O\n", ({1, 2, 3}));
        this will return the following:
          ({ /* sizeof() == 3 */
            1,
            2,
            3
          })
        An array will be printed recursively and each element of the
        array will be indented. Can also be used as a debugging tool.

        sprintf("%-*#s\n", 80, implode(get_dir("~/."), "\n"));

        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("%#-40.3s\n",
                "one\ntwo\nthree\nfour\nfive\nsix\nseven\neight\nnine\nten\n")
                            // returns "one          five         nine\n"
                            //         "two          six          ten\n"
                            //         "three        seven        \n"
                            //         "four         eight        \n"
        sprintf("%#-40s\n",
                "one\ntwo\nthree\nfour\nfive\nsix\nseven\neight\nnine\nten\n")
                            // returns "one     three   five    seven   nine\n"
                            //         "two     four    six     eight   ten\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    "
        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("%+5d/%5d",123,123)         // returns " +123/  123"
        sprintf("%|6d",123)                 // returns "  123 "
        sprintf("%|10d",123)                // returns "    123   "
        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"

        sprintf("%f",123.5)                 // returns "124"
        sprintf("%8.3f",123.5)              // returns " 123.500"
        sprintf("%E",123.5)                 // returns "1E+02"
        sprintf("%12.4e",123.5)             // returns "  1.2350e+02"
        sprintf("%g",123.5)                 // returns "1e+02"
        sprintf("%8.3G",123.5)              // returns "     124"
        sprintf("%8.6g",123.5)              // returns "   123.5"

HISTORY
        LDMud 3.2.9 added the "%^" sequence for compatibility with
          terminal_colour(), added the "%Q" sequence, clarified the meaning of
          leading 0s in the field size modifier, clarified the interaction
          between the padding and newlines, and added the '$' formatter for
          justified printing of strings.
        LDMud 3.2.10 added modifier '#' for '%O'/'%Q' and the datatype '%b'.

SEE ALSO
        printf(E), terminal_colour(E)