FormatString Function

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Formats the number or string using the format string.

 

Syntax

 

formattedString = FormatString( formatString, value1, [value2], [value3] )

 

Parameters

formatString

 

the format string "%[flags] [width] [.precision]"

value1


an integer, float or string

value2


an integer, float or string

value3


a float only




returns

 

the formatted string

 

Examples

 

Must use %i when formatting integers, %f when formatting floats, and %s when formatting strings.

 

 

PRINT FormatString( "I am %i years old.", 5 )                                                        

' I am 5 years old.

 

PRINT FormatString( "The price of an %s is $%.2f today.", "apple", 100.123456 )                

' The price of an apple is $100.12 today.

 

PRINT FormatString( "I'd like to say %s to %s.", "hello", "Sam" )                                

' I'd like to say hello to Sam.

 

 

The following will create a string variable with tabSize spaces:


myPaddingString = FormatString( "% *s", tabSize, "" )

 
 
The following will print the string 1234 padded within 10 spaces:


PRINT FormatString( "% 10s", "1234" )

 
 
These numbers will be right justified in columns:


PRINT FormatString( "% 10s", AsString( 5 ) ) + FormatString( "% 10s", AsString( 5.123 ) )

PRINT FormatString( "% 10s", AsString( 5.12 ) ) + FormatString( "% 10s", AsString( 500 ) )

 
 
You can also replace the hard coded padding with an integer variable like this:


VARIABLES: tabSize TYPE: integer

tabSize = 10

PRINT FormatString( "% *s", tabSize, AsString( 5 ) ) + FormatString( "% *s", tabSize, AsString( 5.123 ) )

PRINT FormatString( "% *s", tabSize, AsString( 5.12 ) ) + FormatString( "% *s", tabSize, AsString( 500 ) )

 
 
The following will do the above, but limit the decimals to 2 places:


PRINT FormatString( "% *.2f", tabSize, floatValue1 ) + FormatString( "% *.2f", tabSize, floatValue2 )

 
 
The following will do the dynamic padding, and also dynamic number of decimals:


VARIABLES: tabSize, decimals TYPE: integer

VARIABLES: floatValue1, floatValue2 TYPE: floating

tabSize = 20

decimals = 2

floatValue1 = Random( 1000 ) / Random( 10 )

floatValue2 = Random( 100 ) / Random( 10 )

PRINT FormatString( "% *.*f", tabSize, decimals, floatValue1 ) + FormatString( "% *.*f",

 tabSize, decimals, floatValue2 )

 

 

 

%[flags][width][.precision][length]specifier

 
Where specifier is the most significant one and defines the type and the interpretation of the value of the corresponding argument:

specifier

Output

Example

c

Character

a

d or i

Signed decimal integer

392

e

Scientific notation (mantise/exponent) using e character

3.9265e+2

E

Scientific notation (mantise/exponent) using E character

3.9265E+2

f

Decimal floating point

392.65

g

Use the shorter of %e or %f

392.65

G

Use the shorter of %E or %f

392.65

o

Signed octal

610

s

String of characters

sample

u

Unsigned decimal integer

7235

x

Unsigned hexadecimal integer

7fa

X

Unsigned hexadecimal integer (capital letters)

7FA

p

Pointer address

B800:0000

n

Nothing printed. The argument must be a pointer to a signed int, where the number of characters written so far is stored.

 

%

A % followed by another % character will write % to the string.

 

 
 
The tag can also contain flags, width, .precision and modifiers sub-specifiers, which are optional and follow these specifications:
 

flags

description

-

Left-justify within the given field width; Right justification is the default (see width sub-specifier).

+

Forces to preceed the result with a plus or minus sign (+ or -) even for positive numbers. By default, only negative numbers are preceded with a - sign.

(space)

If no sign is going to be written, a blank space is inserted before the value.

#

Used with o, x or X specifiers the value is preceeded with 0, 0x or 0X respectively for values different than zero.
Used with e, E and f, it forces the written output to contain a decimal point even if no digits would follow. By default, if no digits follow, no decimal point is written.
Used with g or G the result is the same as with e or E but trailing zeros are not removed.

0

Left-pads the number with zeroes (0) instead of spaces, where padding is specified (see width sub-specifier).

 
 

width

description

(number)

Minimum number of characters to be printed. If the value to be printed is shorter than this number, the result is padded with blank spaces. The value is not truncated even if the result is larger.

*

The width is not specified in the format string, but as an additional integer value argument preceding the argument that has to be formatted.

 

.precision

description

.number

For integer specifiers (d, i, o, u, x, X): precision specifies the minimum number of digits to be written. If the value to be written is shorter than this number, the result is padded with leading zeros. The value is not truncated even if the result is longer. A precision of 0 means that no character is written for the value 0.
For e, E and f specifiers: this is the number of digits to be printed after the decimal point.
For g and G specifiers: This is the maximum number of significant digits to be printed.
For s: this is the maximum number of characters to be printed. By default all characters are printed until the ending null character is encountered.
For c type: it has no effect.
When no precision is specified, the default is 1. If the period is specified without an explicit value for precision, 0 is assumed.

.*

The precision is not specified in the format string, but as an additional integer value argument preceding the argument that has to be formatted.

 
 

length

description

h

The argument is interpreted as a short int or unsigned short int (only applies to integer specifiers: i, d, o, u, x and X).

l

The argument is interpreted as a long int or unsigned long int for integer specifiers (i, d, o, u, x and X), and as a wide character or wide character string for specifiers c and s.

L

The argument is interpreted as a long double (only applies to floating point specifiers: e, E, f, g and G).

 
 

additional arguments

Depending on the format string, the function may expect a sequence of additional arguments, each containing one value to be inserted instead of each %-tag specified in the format parameter, if any. There should be the same number of these arguments as the number of %-tags that expect a value.