printf() with vector arguments.

[Randal Schwartz]

In article <23078 at sequent.UUCP>, paulr at sequent (Paul Reger) writes:
| 
| I was wondering if there exists such a beast as:
| 
| void vec_printf(char *fmt,void *args[]);
| 
| (as opposed to what we're all familiar with: void printf(char *fmt, ...);)
| 
| Such a thing would be useful for a tool that can be used with any
| shell - call it shell_printf.  This would have the synopsis:
| 
| shell_printf fmt [arg1 [arg2 [arg3 ... [argn]]]]
| 
| and its purpose would be to format and print out its arguments to
| stdout in the exact same manner as printf() does.  Such a tool would
| be useful for output in shell scripts. For example:
| 
| shell_printf "There are %9d dogs, weighing %9g pounds, and my son's name is '%s'.\n\n\n" 100 12.23 Eric
| 
| which would print out to stdout:
| 
| ``
| There are       100 dogs, weighing     12.23 punds, and my son's name is 'Eric'.
| 
| 
| ''
| 
| Without the vec_printf() routine, such a tool would be hard to do.

In Perl:

perl -e 'printf "There are %9d dogs, weighing %9g pounds, and my son'\''s name is '\''%s'\''.\n\n\n", at ARGV; exit 0;' 100 12.23 Eric

generates:
There are       100 dogs, weighing     12.23 pounds, and my son's name is 'Eric'.


Close enough?

Just another Perl hacker,
-- 
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