sprintf - formatted print into a string
sprintf FORMAT, LIST
Returns a string formatted by the usual printf() conventions of the C library function sprintf(). See sprintf(3) or printf(3) on your system for an explanation of the general principles.
Perl does its own sprintf() formatting -- it emulates the C function sprintf(), but it doesn't use it (except for floating-point numbers, and even then only the standard modifiers are allowed). As a result, any non-standard extensions in your local sprintf() are not available from Perl.
Perl's sprintf() permits the following universally-known conversions:
%% a percent sign %c a character with the given number %s a string %d a signed integer, in decimal %u an unsigned integer, in decimal %o an unsigned integer, in octal %x an unsigned integer, in hexadecimal %e a floating-point number, in scientific notation %f a floating-point number, in fixed decimal notation %g a floating-point number, in %e or %f notation
In addition, Perl permits the following widely-supported conversions:
%X like %x, but using upper-case letters
%E like %e, but using an upper-case "E"
%G like %g, but with an upper-case "E" (if applicable)
%p a pointer (outputs the Perl value's address in hexadecimal)
%n special: *stores* the number of characters output so far
into the next variable in the parameter list
Finally, for backward (and we do mean ``backward'') compatibility, Perl permits these unnecessary but widely-supported conversions:
%i a synonym for %d %D a synonym for %ld %U a synonym for %lu %O a synonym for %lo %F a synonym for %f
Perl permits the following universally-known flags between the %
and the conversion letter:
space prefix positive number with a space
+ prefix positive number with a plus sign
- left-justify within the field
0 use zeros, not spaces, to right-justify
# prefix non-zero octal with "0", non-zero hex with "0x"
number minimum field width
.number "precision": digits after decimal point for
floating-point, max length for string, minimum length
for integer
l interpret integer as C type "long" or "unsigned long"
h interpret integer as C type "short" or "unsigned short"
There is also one Perl-specific flag:
V interpret integer as Perl's standard integer type
Where a number would appear in the flags, an asterisk (``*'') may be used instead, in which case Perl uses the next item in the
parameter list as the given number (that is, as the field width or
precision). If a field width obtained through ``*'' is negative, it has the same effect as the ``-'' flag: left-justification.
If use locale is in effect, the character used for the decimal point in formatted real numbers is affected by the
LC_NUMERIC locale. See
the perllocale manpage.
If rather than formatting bugs, you encounter substantive content errors in these documents, such as mistakes in the explanations or code, please use the perlbug utility included with the Perl distribution.