std::printf, std::fprintf, std::sprintf, std::snprintf - cppreference.com (original) (raw)

Defined in header
int printf( const char* format, ... ); (1)
int fprintf( std::FILE* stream, const char* format, ... ); (2)
int sprintf( char* buffer, const char* format, ... ); (3)
int snprintf( char* buffer, std::size_t buf_size, const char* format, ... ); (4) (since C++11)

Loads the data from the given locations, converts them to character string equivalents and writes the results to a variety of sinks.

  1. Writes the results to stdout.

  2. Writes the results to a file stream stream.

  3. Writes the results to a character string buffer.

  4. Writes the results to a character string buffer. At most buf_size - 1 characters are written. The resulting character string will be terminated with a null character, unless buf_size is zero. If buf_size is zero, nothing is written and buffer may be a null pointer, however the return value (number of bytes that would be written not including the null terminator) is still calculated and returned.

If a call to sprintf or snprintf causes copying to take place between objects that overlap, the behavior is undefined (e.g. sprintf(buf, "%s text", buf);).

[edit] Parameters

stream - output file stream to write to
buffer - pointer to a character string to write to
buf_size - up to buf_size - 1 characters may be written, plus the null terminator
format - pointer to a null-terminated multibyte string specifying how to interpret the data
... - arguments specifying data to print. If any argument after default argument promotions is not the type expected by the corresponding conversion specification (the expected type is the promoted type or a compatible type of the promoted type), or if there are fewer arguments than required by format, the behavior is undefined. If there are more arguments than required by format, the extraneous arguments are evaluated and ignored

The format string consists of ordinary byte characters (except **%**), which are copied unchanged into the output stream, and conversion specifications. Each conversion specification has the following format:

The following format specifiers are available:

ConversionSpecifier Explanation ExpectedArgument Type
Length Modifier→ hh h none l ll j z t L
Only available since C++11→ Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
% Writes literal %. The full conversion specification must be %%. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
c Writes a single character. The argument is first converted to unsigned char. If the l modifier is used, the argument is first converted to a character string as if by %ls with a wchar_t[2] argument. N/A N/A int std::wint_t N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
s Writes a character string. The argument must be a pointer to the initial element of an array of characters. Precision specifies the maximum number of bytes to be written. If Precision is not specified, writes every byte up to and not including the first null terminator. If the l specifier is used, the argument must be a pointer to the initial element of an array of wchar_t, which is converted to char array as if by a call to std::wcrtomb with zero-initialized conversion state. N/A N/A char* wchar_t* N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
di Converts a signed integer into decimal representation [-]dddd. Precision specifies the minimum number of digits to appear. The default precision is 1. If both the converted value and the precision are ​0​ the conversion results in no characters. For the z modifier, the expected argument type is the signed version of std::size_t. signed char short int long long long std::intmax_t std::ptrdiff_t N/A
o Converts an unsigned integer into octal representation oooo. Precision specifies the minimum number of digits to appear. The default precision is 1. If both the converted value and the precision are ​0​ the conversion results in no characters. In the alternative implementation precision is increased if necessary, to write one leading zero. In that case if both the converted value and the precision are ​0​, single ​0​ is written. unsigned char unsigned short unsigned int unsigned long unsigned long long std::uintmax_t std::size_t unsigned version of std::ptrdiff_t N/A
xX Converts an unsigned integer into hexadecimal representation hhhh. For the x conversion letters abcdef are used. For the X conversion letters ABCDEF are used. Precision specifies the minimum number of digits to appear. The default precision is 1. If both the converted value and the precision are ​0​ the conversion results in no characters. In the alternative implementation 0x or 0X is prefixed to results if the converted value is nonzero. N/A
u Converts an unsigned integer into decimal representation dddd. Precision specifies the minimum number of digits to appear. The default precision is 1. If both the converted value and the precision are ​0​ the conversion results in no characters. N/A
fF (C++11) Converts floating-point number to the decimal notation in the style [-]ddd.ddd. Precision specifies the exact number of digits to appear after the decimal point character. The default precision is 6. In the alternative implementation decimal point character is written even if no digits follow it. For infinity and not-a-number conversion style see notes. N/A N/A double double (C++11) N/A N/A N/A N/A long double
eE Converts floating-point number to the decimal exponent notation. For the e conversion style [-]d.ddd e±dd is used. For the E conversion style [-]d.ddd E±dd is used. The exponent contains at least two digits, more digits are used only if necessary. If the value is ​0​, the exponent is also ​0​. Precision specifies the exact number of digits to appear after the decimal point character. The default precision is 6. In the alternative implementation decimal point character is written even if no digits follow it. For infinity and not-a-number conversion style see notes. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
aA (C++11) Converts floating-point number to the hexadecimal exponent notation. For the a conversion style [-] 0xh.hhh p±d is used. For the A conversion style [-] 0Xh.hhh P±d is used. The first hexadecimal digit is not 0 if the argument is a normalized floating-point value. If the value is ​0​, the exponent is also ​0​. Precision specifies the exact number of digits to appear after the hexadecimal point character. The default precision is sufficient for exact representation of the value. In the alternative implementation decimal point character is written even if no digits follow it. For infinity and not-a-number conversion style see notes. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
gG Converts floating-point number to decimal or decimal exponent notation depending on the value and the precision. For the g conversion style conversion with style e or f will be performed. For the G conversion style conversion with style E or f(until C++11)F(since C++11) will be performed. Let P equal the precision if nonzero, 6 if the precision is not specified, or 1 if the precision is ​0​. Then, if a conversion with style E would have an exponent of X: If P > X ≥ −4, the conversion is with style f or F(since C++11) and precision P − 1 − X. Otherwise, the conversion is with style e or E and precision P − 1. Unless alternative representation is requested the trailing zeros are removed, also the decimal point character is removed if no fractional part is left. For infinity and not-a-number conversion style see notes. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
n Returns the number of characters written so far by this call to the function. The result is written to the value pointed to by the argument. The specification may not contain any flag, field width, or precision. For the z modifier, the expected argument type is S*, where S is the signed version of std::size_t. signed char* short* int* long* long long* std::intmax_t* std::ptrdiff_t* N/A
p Writes an implementation defined character sequence defining a pointer. N/A N/A void* N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Notes
The floating-point conversion functions convert infinity to inf or infinity. Which one is used is implementation defined.Not-a-number is converted to nan or nan(char_sequence). Which one is used is implementation defined.The conversions F, E, G, A output INF, INFINITY, NAN instead.The conversion specifier used to print char, unsigned char, signed char, short, and unsigned short expects promoted types of default argument promotions, but before printing its value will be converted to char, unsigned char, signed char, short, and unsigned short. It is safe to pass values of these types because of the promotion that takes place when a variadic function is called.The correct conversion specifications for the fixed-width character types (std::int8_t, etc) are defined in the header (although PRIdMAX, PRIuMAX, etc is synonymous with %jd, %ju, etc).The memory-writing conversion specifier %n is a common target of security exploits where format strings depend on user input.There is a sequence point after the action of each conversion specifier; this permits storing multiple %n results in the same variable or, as an edge case, printing a string modified by an earlier %n within the same call.If a conversion specification is invalid, the behavior is undefined.

[edit] Return value

1,2) Number of characters written if successful or a negative value if an error occurred.

  1. Number of characters written if successful (not including the terminating null character) or a negative value if an error occurred.

  2. Number of characters that would have been written for a sufficiently large buffer if successful (not including the terminating null character), or a negative value if an error occurred. Thus, the (null-terminated) output has been completely written if and only if the returned value is nonnegative and less than buf_size.

[edit] Notes

POSIX specifies that errno is set on error. It also specifies additional conversion specifications, most notably support for argument reordering (n$ immediately after % indicates nth argument).

Calling std::snprintf with zero buf_size and null pointer for buffer is useful (when the overhead of double-call is acceptable) to determine the necessary buffer size to contain the output:

auto fmt = "sqrt(2) = %f"; int sz = std::snprintf(nullptr, 0, fmt, std::sqrt(2)); std::vector buf(sz + 1); // note +1 for null terminator std::sprintf(buf.data(), fmt, std::sqrt(2)); // certain to fit

[edit] Example

#include #include #include #include   int main() { const char* s = "Hello"; std::printf("Strings:\n"); // same as std::puts("Strings:"); std::printf("\t[%10s]\n", s); std::printf("\t[%-10s]\n", s); std::printf("\t[%*s]\n", 10, s); std::printf("\t[%-10.s]\n", 4, s); std::printf("\t[%-.*s]\n", 10, 4, s);   std::printf("Characters:\t%c %%\n", 'A');   std::printf("Integers:\n"); std::printf("\tDecimal: \t%i %d %.6i %i %.0i %+i %i\n", 1, 2, 3, 0, 0, 4,-4); std::printf("\tHexadecimal:\t%x %x %X %#x\n", 5,10,10, 6); std::printf("\tOctal: \t%o %#o %#o\n", 10, 10, 4);   std::printf("Floating point:\n"); std::printf("\tRounding:\t%f %.0f %.32f\n", 1.5, 1.5, 1.3); std::printf("\tPadding:\t%05.2f %.2f %5.2f\n", 1.5, 1.5, 1.5); std::printf("\tScientific:\t%E %e\n", 1.5, 1.5); std::printf("\tHexadecimal:\t%a %A\n", 1.5, 1.5); std::printf("\tSpecial values:\t0/0=%g 1/0=%g\n", 0.0/0.0, 1.0/0.0);   std::printf("Variable width control:\n"); std::printf("\tright-justified variable width: '%*c'\n", 5, 'x'); int r = std::printf("\tleft-justified variable width : '%*c'\n", -5, 'x'); std::printf("(the last printf printed %d characters)\n", r);   std::printf("Fixed-width types:\n"); std::uint32_t val = std::numeric_limits<std::uint32_t>::max(); std::printf("\tLargest 32-bit value is %" PRIu32 " or %#" PRIx32 "\n", val, val); }

Possible output:

Strings: [ Hello] [Hello ] [ Hello] [Hell ] [Hell ] Characters: A % Integers: Decimal: 1 2 000003 0 +4 -4 Hexadecimal: 5 a A 0x6 Octal: 12 012 04 Floating point: Rounding: 1.500000 2 1.30000000000000004440892098500626 Padding: 01.50 1.50 1.50 Scientific: 1.500000E+00 1.500000e+00 Hexadecimal: 0x1.8p+0 0X1.8P+0 Special values: 0/0=-nan 1/0=inf Variable width control: right-justified variable width: ' x' left-justified variable width : 'x ' (the last printf printed 41 characters) Fixed-width types: Largest 32-bit value is 4294967295 or 0xffffffff

[edit] See also

wprintffwprintfswprintf prints formatted wide character output to stdout, a file stream or a buffer (function) [edit]
vprintfvfprintfvsprintfvsnprintf(C++11) prints formatted output to stdout, a file stream or a bufferusing variable argument list (function) [edit]
fputs writes a character string to a file stream (function) [edit]
scanffscanfsscanf reads formatted input from stdin, a file stream or a buffer (function) [edit]
to_chars(C++17) converts an integer or floating-point value to a character sequence (function) [edit]
print(C++23) prints to stdout or a file stream using formatted representation of the arguments (function template) [edit]
println(C++23) same as std::print except that each print is terminated by additional new line (function template) [edit]
C documentation for printf, fprintf, sprintf, snprintf