format(n)						       Tcl Built-In Commands							 format(n)

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NAME

       format - Format a string in the style of sprintf

SYNOPSIS

       format formatString ?arg arg ...?
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INTRODUCTION

       This command generates a formatted string in the same way as the ANSI C sprintf procedure (it uses sprintf in its implementation).  Format-
       String indicates how to format the result, using % conversion specifiers as in sprintf, and the additional arguments, if 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 is appended to the result string
       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 specifier controls the conversion of the next successive arg to a particu-
       lar format and the result is appended to the result string in place of the conversion specifier.  If there are multiple	conversion  speci-
       fiers  in  the format string, then each one controls the conversion of one additional arg.  The format command must be given enough args to
       meet the needs of all of the conversion specifiers in formatString.

       Each conversion specifier may contain up to six different parts: an XPG3 position specifier, a set 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 the order given above.  The paragraphs below discuss each of these fields in turn.

       If the % is followed by a decimal number and a $, as in ``%2$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 the specifier then successive 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 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 any order:

       -	 Specifies that the converted argument should be left-justified in its field (numbers are normally  right-justified  with  leading
		 spaces if needed).

       +	 Specifies that a number should always be printed with a sign, even if positive.

       space	 Specifies that a space should be added to the beginning of the number if 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 conver-
		 sions, 0x or 0X (respectively) will be added to the beginning of the result unless it is zero.  For  all  floating-point  conver-
		 sions	(e,  E,  f, g, and G) it guarantees that the result always has a decimal point.  For g and G conversions it specifies that
		 trailing zeroes should not be removed.

       The third portion of a conversion specifier is a number giving a minimum field width for this conversion.  It is  typically  used  to  make
       columns	line  up  in  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 argu-
       ment, 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 mini-
       mum field width is specified as * rather than a number, then the next argument to the format command determines the minimum field width; it
       must be a numeric string.

       The  fourth  portion of a conversion specifier is a precision, which consists of a period followed by a number.	The number is used in dif-
       ferent 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 (how-
       ever, 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 necessary).  For s conversions it specifies the maximum num-
       ber of characters to be printed; if the string is longer than this then the trailing characters will be dropped.  If the precision is spec-
       ified 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.  The l modifier is ignored.

       The last thing in a conversion specifier is an alphabetic character that determines what kind of conversion to perform.	The following con-
       version 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;  the integer may either be in decimal, in octal (with a leading 0) or in hexadecimal
		 (with a leading 0x).

       o	 Convert integer to unsigned octal string.

       x or X	 Convert integer to unsigned hexadecimal string, 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 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 decimal point is output.

       e or e	 Convert  floating-point number to scientific notation in the form x.yyye+-zz, where the number of y's is determined by the preci-
		 sion (default: 6).  If the precision is 0 then no decimal point is output.  If the E form is used then E is printed instead of e.

       g or G	 If the exponent is less 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; format converts the argument to
       binary and then converts it back to a string according to the conversion 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, which will then be converted to the corresponding character value.

       [3]    The l modifier is ignored;  integer values are always converted as if there were no modifier present and real values are always con-
	      verted as if the l modifier were present (i.e. type double is used for the internal representation).  If the h modifier is specified
	      then integer values are truncated to short before conversion.

SEE ALSO

       sprintf(3), string(n)

KEYWORDS

       conversion specifier, format, sprintf, string, substitution

Tcl									8.1								 format(n)