SPRINTF(3)								 1								SPRINTF(3)

sprintf - Return a formatted string

SYNOPSIS

       string sprintf (string  $format, [mixed	$args], [mixed	$...])

DESCRIPTION

	Returns a string produced according to the formatting string $format.

PARAMETERS

	      o $format
		-  The	format	string	is  composed of zero or more directives: ordinary characters (excluding %) that are copied directly to the
		result, and conversion specifications, each of which results in fetching its own parameter. This applies to  both  sprintf(3)  and
		printf(3).  Each conversion specification consists of a percent sign ( %), followed by one or more of these elements, in order:

		     o An optional
		       sign  specifier that forces a sign (- or +) to be used on a number. By default, only the - sign is used on a number if it's
		       negative. This specifier forces positive numbers to have the + sign attached as well, and was added in PHP 4.3.0.

		     o An optional
		       padding specifier that says what character will be used for padding the results to the right string size.  This	may  be  a
		       space character or a 0 (zero character). The default is to pad with spaces. An alternate padding character can be specified
		       by prefixing it with a single quote ( '). See the examples below.

		     o An optional
		       alignment specifier that says if the result should be left-justified or right-justified. The default is right-justified;  a
		       - character here will make it left-justified.

		     o An optional number, a
		       width specifier that says how many characters (minimum) this conversion should result in.

		     o An optional
		       precision  specifier  in  the form of a period ( .) followed by an optional decimal digit string that says how many decimal
		       digits should be displayed for floating-point numbers. When using this specifier on a string, it acts as  a  cutoff  point,
		       setting a maximum character limit to the string. Additionally, the character to use when padding a number may optionally be
		       specified between the period and the digit.

		     o A
		       type specifier that says what type the argument data should be treated as. Possible types:

			    o % - a literal percent character. No argument is required.

			    o b - the argument is treated as an integer, and presented as a binary number.

			    o c - the argument is treated as an integer, and presented as the character with that ASCII value.

			    o d - the argument is treated as an integer, and presented as a (signed) decimal number.

			    o e - the argument is treated as scientific notation (e.g. 1.2e+2). The precision specifier stands for the	number	of
			      digits  after  the  decimal point since PHP 5.2.1. In earlier versions, it was taken as number of significant digits
			      (one less).

			    o E - like %e but uses uppercase letter (e.g. 1.2E+2).

			    o f - the argument is treated as a float, and presented as a floating-point number (locale aware).

			    o F - the argument is treated as a float, and presented as a floating-point number (non-locale aware). Available since
			      PHP 4.3.10 and PHP 5.0.3.

			    o g - shorter of %e and %f.

			    o G - shorter of %E and %f.

			    o o - the argument is treated as an integer, and presented as an octal number.

			    o s - the argument is treated as and presented as a string.

			    o u - the argument is treated as an integer, and presented as an unsigned decimal number.

			    o x - the argument is treated as an integer and presented as a hexadecimal number (with lowercase letters).

			    o X - the argument is treated as an integer and presented as a hexadecimal number (with uppercase letters).

	       Variables will be co-erced to a suitable type for the specifier:

	      Type Handling

	      +--------+---------------------+
	      | Type   |		     |
	      |        |		     |
	      |        |     Specifiers      |
	      |        |		     |
	      +--------+---------------------+
	      |        |		     |
	      |string  |		     |
	      |        |		     |
	      |        |		     |
	      |        |	  s	     |
	      |        |		     |
	      |        |		     |
	      |integer |		     |
	      |        |		     |
	      |        |		     |
	      |        | d, u, c, o, x, X, b |
	      |        |		     |
	      |        |		     |
	      |double  |		     |
	      |        |		     |
	      |        |		     |
	      |        |  g, G, e, E, f, F   |
	      |        |		     |
	      +--------+---------------------+
	      Warning

		      Attempting  to  use a combination of the string and width specifiers with character sets that require more than one byte per
		     character may result in unexpected results

	       The format string supports argument numbering/swapping. Here is an example:

	      Example #1

		     Argument swapping

		     <?php
		     $num = 5;
		     $location = 'tree';

		     $format = 'There are %d monkeys in the %s';
		     echo sprintf($format, $num, $location);
		     ?>
	       This will output "There are 5 monkeys in the tree". But imagine we are creating a  format  string  in  a  separate  file,  commonly
	      because we would like to internationalize it and we rewrite it as:

	      Example #2

		     Argument swapping

		     <?php
		     $format = 'The %s contains %d monkeys';
		     echo sprintf($format, $num, $location);
		     ?>
	       We now have a problem. The order of the placeholders in the format string does not match the order of the arguments in the code. We
	      would like to leave the code as is and simply indicate in the format string which arguments the  placeholders  refer  to.  We  would
	      write the format string like this instead:

	      Example #3

		     Argument swapping

		     <?php
		     $format = 'The %2$s contains %1$d monkeys';
		     echo sprintf($format, $num, $location);
		     ?>
	       An added benefit here is that you can repeat the placeholders without adding more arguments in the code. For example:

	      Example #4

		     Argument swapping

		     <?php
		     $format = 'The %2$s contains %1$d monkeys.
				That's a nice %2$s full of %1$d monkeys.';
		     echo sprintf($format, $num, $location);
		     ?>
	       When  using argument swapping, the n$ position specifier must come immediately after the percent sign ( %), before any other speci-
	      fiers, as shown in the example below.

	      Example #5

		     Specifying padding character

		     <?php
		     echo sprintf("%'.9d
", 123);
		     echo sprintf("%'.09d
", 123);
		     ?>

		     The above example will output:

		     000000123

	      Example #6

		     Position specifier with other specifiers

		     <?php
		     $format = 'The %2$s contains %1$04d monkeys';
		     echo sprintf($format, $num, $location);
		     ?>

		     The above example will output:

		     The tree contains 0005 monkeys

	      Note

		      Attempting to use a position specifier greater than PHP_INT_MAX will result in sprintf(3) generating warnings.

	      Warning

		      The c type specifier ignores padding and width

	      o $args
		-

	      o $...
		-

RETURN VALUES

	Returns a string produced according to the formatting string $format.

EXAMPLES

       Example #7

	      printf(3): various examples

	      <?php
	      $n =  43951789;
	      $u = -43951789;
	      $c = 65; // ASCII 65 is 'A'

	      // notice the double %%, this prints a literal '%' character
	      printf("%%b = '%b'
", $n); // binary representation
	      printf("%%c = '%c'
", $c); // print the ascii character, same as chr() function
	      printf("%%d = '%d'
", $n); // standard integer representation
	      printf("%%e = '%e'
", $n); // scientific notation
	      printf("%%u = '%u'
", $n); // unsigned integer representation of a positive integer
	      printf("%%u = '%u'
", $u); // unsigned integer representation of a negative integer
	      printf("%%f = '%f'
", $n); // floating point representation
	      printf("%%o = '%o'
", $n); // octal representation
	      printf("%%s = '%s'
", $n); // string representation
	      printf("%%x = '%x'
", $n); // hexadecimal representation (lower-case)
	      printf("%%X = '%X'
", $n); // hexadecimal representation (upper-case)

	      printf("%%+d = '%+d'
", $n); // sign specifier on a positive integer
	      printf("%%+d = '%+d'
", $u); // sign specifier on a negative integer
	      ?>

	      The above example will output:

	      %b = '10100111101010011010101101'
	      %c = 'A'
	      %d = '43951789'
	      %e = '4.39518e+7'
	      %u = '43951789'
	      %u = '4251015507'
	      %f = '43951789.000000'
	      %o = '247523255'
	      %s = '43951789'
	      %x = '29ea6ad'
	      %X = '29EA6AD'
	      %+d = '+43951789'
	      %+d = '-43951789'

       Example #8

	      printf(3): string specifiers

	      <?php
	      $s = 'monkey';
	      $t = 'many monkeys';

	      printf("[%s]
",	    $s); // standard string output
	      printf("[%10s]
",    $s); // right-justification with spaces
	      printf("[%-10s]
",   $s); // left-justification with spaces
	      printf("[%010s]
",   $s); // zero-padding works on strings too
	      printf("[%'#10s]
",  $s); // use the custom padding character '#'
	      printf("[%10.10s]
", $t); // left-justification but with a cutoff of 10 characters
	      ?>

	      The above example will output:

	      [monkey]
	      [    monkey]
	      [monkey	 ]
	      [0000monkey]
	      [####monkey]
	      [many monke]

       Example #9

	      sprintf(3): zero-padded integers

	      <?php
	      $isodate = sprintf("%04d-%02d-%02d", $year, $month, $day);
	      ?>

       Example #10

	      sprintf(3): formatting currency

	      <?php
	      $money1 = 68.75;
	      $money2 = 54.35;
	      $money = $money1 + $money2;
	      // echo $money will output "123.1";
	      $formatted = sprintf("%01.2f", $money);
	      // echo $formatted will output "123.10"
	      ?>

       Example #11

	      sprintf(3): scientific notation

	      <?php
	      $number = 362525200;

	      echo sprintf("%.3e", $number); // outputs 3.625e+8
	      ?>

SEE ALSO

       printf(3), sscanf(3), fscanf(3), vsprintf(3), number_format(3).

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