format(n) Tcl Built-In Commands format(n) NAME format - Format a string(3,n) in(1,8) the style of sprintf SYNOPSIS format formatString ?arg arg ...? INTRODUCTION This command generates a formatted string(3,n) in(1,8) the same way as the ANSI C sprintf procedure (it uses sprintf in(1,8) its implementation). Format- String indicates how to format the result, using % conversion speci- fiers as in(1,8) sprintf, and the additional arguments, if(3,n) any, provide val- ues to be substituted into the result. The return value from format is the formatted string. DETAILS ON FORMATTING The command operates by scanning formatString from left to right. Each character from the format string(3,n) is appended to the result string(3,n) unless it is a percent sign. If the character is a % then it is not copied to the result string. Instead, the characters following the % character are treated as a conversion specifier. The conversion speci- fier controls the conversion of the next successive arg to a particular format and the result is appended to the result string(3,n) in(1,8) place of the conversion specifier. If there are multiple conversion specifiers in(1,8) the format string(3,n), then each one controls the conversion of one addi- tional arg. The format command must be given enough args to meet the needs of all of the conversion specifiers in(1,8) formatString. Each conversion specifier may contain up to six different parts: an XPG3 position specifier, a set(7,n,1 builtins) of flags, a minimum field width, a pre- cision, a length modifier, and a conversion character. Any of these fields may be omitted except for the conversion character. The fields that are present must appear in(1,8) the order given above. The paragraphs below discuss each of these fields in(1,8) turn. If the % is followed by a decimal number and a $, as in(1,8) ``%2$d'', then the value to convert is not taken from the next sequential argument. Instead, it is taken from the argument indicated by the number, where 1 corresponds to the first arg. If the conversion specifier requires multiple arguments because of * characters in(1,8) the specifier then suc- cessive arguments are used, starting with the argument given by the number. This follows the XPG3 conventions for positional specifiers. If there are any positional specifiers in(1,8) formatString then all of the specifiers must be positional. The second portion of a conversion specifier may contain any of the following flag characters, in(1,8) any order: - Specifies that the converted argument should be left-justi- fied in(1,8) its field (numbers are normally right-justified with leading spaces if(3,n) needed). + Specifies that a number should always be printed with a sign, even if(3,n) positive. space Specifies that a space should be added to the beginning of the number if(3,n) the first character isn't a sign. 0 Specifies that the number should be padded on the left with zeroes instead of spaces. # Requests an alternate output form. For o and O conversions it guarantees that the first digit is always 0. For x or X con- versions, 0x or 0X (respectively) will be added to the begin- ning of the result unless it is zero. For all floating-point conversions (e, E, f, g, and G) it guarantees that the result always has a decimal point. For g and G conversions it spec- ifies that trailing zeroes should not be removed. The third portion of a conversion specifier is a number giving a mini- mum field width for this conversion. It is typically used to make col- umns line up in(1,8) tabular printouts. If the converted argument contains fewer characters than the minimum field width then it will be padded so that it is as wide as the minimum field width. Padding normally occurs by adding extra spaces on the left of the converted argument, but the 0 and - flags may be used to specify padding with zeroes on the left or with spaces on the right, respectively. If the minimum field width is specified as * rather than a number, then the next argument to the for- mat command determines the minimum field width; it must be a numeric string. The fourth portion of a conversion specifier is a precision, which con- sists of a period followed by a number. The number is used in(1,8) differ- ent ways for different conversions. For e, E, and f conversions it specifies the number of digits to appear to the right of the decimal point. For g and G conversions it specifies the total number of digits to appear, including those on both sides of the decimal point (however, trailing zeroes after the decimal point will still be omitted unless the # flag has been specified). For integer conversions, it specifies a minimum number of digits to print (leading zeroes will be added if(3,n) necessary). For s conversions it specifies the maximum number of char- acters to be printed; if(3,n) the string(3,n) is longer than this then the trail- ing characters will be dropped. If the precision is specified with * rather than a number then the next argument to the format command determines the precision; it must be a numeric string. The fifth part of a conversion specifier is a length modifier, which must be h or l. If it is h it specifies that the numeric value should be truncated to a 16-bit value before converting. This option is rarely useful. If it is l it specifies that the numeric value should be (at least) a 64-bit value. If neither h or l are present, numeric values are interpreted as being values of the width of the native machine word, as described by tcl_platform(wordSize). The last thing in(1,8) a conversion specifier is an alphabetic character that determines what kind of conversion to perform. The following con- version(1,3,5) characters are currently supported: d Convert integer to signed decimal string. u Convert integer to unsigned decimal string. i Convert integer to signed decimal string(3,n); the integer may either be in(1,8) decimal, in(1,8) octal (with a leading 0) or in(1,8) hexa- decimal (with a leading 0x). o Convert integer to unsigned octal string. x or X Convert integer to unsigned hexadecimal string(3,n), using digits ``0123456789abcdef'' for x and ``0123456789ABCDEF'' for X). c Convert integer to the Unicode character it represents. s No conversion; just insert string. f Convert floating-point number to signed decimal string(3,n) of the form xx.yyy, where the number of y's is determined by the precision (default: 6). If the precision is 0 then no deci- mal point is output. e or e Convert floating-point number to scientific notation in(1,8) the form x.yyye±zz, where the number of y's is determined by the precision (default: 6). If the precision is 0 then no deci- mal point is output. If the E form is used then E is printed instead of e. g or G If the exponent is less(1,3) than -4 or greater than or equal to the precision, then convert floating-point number as for %e or %E. Otherwise convert as for %f. Trailing zeroes and a trailing decimal point are omitted. % No conversion: just insert %. For the numerical conversions the argument being converted must be an integer or floating-point string(3,n); format converts the argument to binary and then converts it back to a string(3,n) according to the conver- sion specifier. DIFFERENCES FROM ANSI SPRINTF The behavior of the format command is the same as the ANSI C sprintf procedure except for the following differences: [1] %p and %n specifiers are not currently supported. [2] For %c conversions the argument must be a decimal string(3,n), which will then be converted to the corresponding character value. [3] The l modifier is ignored for real values and on 64-bit plat- forms, which are always converted as if(3,n) the l modifier were present (i.e. the types double and long are used for the inter- nal representation of real and integer values, respectively). If the h modifier is specified then integer values are truncated to short before conversion. Both h and l modifiers are ignored on all other conversions. SEE ALSO sprintf(3), string(3,n)(n) KEYWORDS conversion specifier, format, sprintf, string(3,n), substitution Tcl 8.1 format(n)