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  <refentry id="function.sprintf">
   <refnamediv>
    <refname>sprintf</refname>
    <refpurpose>Return a formatted string</refpurpose>
   </refnamediv>
   <refsect1>
    <title>Description</title>
     <methodsynopsis>
      <type>string</type><methodname>sprintf</methodname>
      <methodparam><type>string</type><parameter>format</parameter></methodparam>
      <methodparam choice="opt"><type>mixed</type><parameter>args</parameter></methodparam>
      <methodparam choice="opt"><type>mixed</type><parameter>...</parameter></methodparam>
     </methodsynopsis>
    <simpara>
     Returns a string produced according to the formatting string
     <parameter>format</parameter>.
    </simpara>
    <simpara>
     The format string is composed of zero or more directives:
     ordinary characters (excluding <literal>%</literal>) that are
     copied directly to the result, and <emphasis>conversion
     specifications</emphasis>, each of which results in fetching its
     own parameter.  This applies to both <function>sprintf</function>
     and <function>printf</function>.
    </simpara>
    <para>
     Each conversion specification consists of a percent sign
     (<literal>%</literal>), followed by one or more of these
     elements, in order:
     <orderedlist>
      <listitem>
       <simpara>
        An optional <emphasis>sign specifier</emphasis> 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.
       </simpara>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
       <simpara>
        An optional <emphasis>padding specifier</emphasis> that says
        what character will be used for padding the results to the
        right string size.  This may be a space character or a
        <literal>0</literal> (zero character).  The default is to pad
        with spaces.  An alternate padding character can be specified
        by prefixing it with a single quote (<literal>'</literal>).
        See the examples below.
       </simpara>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
       <simpara>
        An optional <emphasis>alignment specifier</emphasis> that says
        if the result should be left-justified or right-justified.
        The default is right-justified; a <literal>-</literal>
        character here will make it left-justified.
       </simpara>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
       <simpara>
        An optional number, a <emphasis>width specifier</emphasis>
        that says how many characters (minimum) this conversion should
        result in.
       </simpara>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
       <simpara>
        An optional <emphasis>precision specifier</emphasis> 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.
       </simpara>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        A <emphasis>type specifier</emphasis> that says what type the
        argument data should be treated as.  Possible types:
        <simplelist>
         <member>
          <literal>%</literal> - a literal percent character. No
          argument is required.
         </member>
         <member>
          <literal>b</literal> - the argument is treated as an
          integer, and presented as a binary number.
         </member>
         <member>
          <literal>c</literal> - the argument is treated as an
          integer, and presented as the character with that ASCII
          value.
         </member>
         <member>
          <literal>d</literal> - the argument is treated as an
          integer, and presented as a (signed) decimal number.
         </member>
         <member>
          <literal>e</literal> - the argument is treated as scientific
          notation (e.g. 1.2e+2).
         </member>
         <member>
          <literal>u</literal> - the argument is treated as an
          integer, and presented as an unsigned decimal number.
         </member>
         <member>
          <literal>f</literal> - the argument is treated as a
          float, and presented as a floating-point number (locale aware).
         </member>
         <member>
          <literal>F</literal> - 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.
         </member>
         <member>
          <literal>o</literal> - the argument is treated as an
          integer, and presented as an octal number.
         </member>
         <member>
          <literal>s</literal> - the argument is treated as and
          presented as a string.
         </member>
         <member>
          <literal>x</literal> - the argument is treated as an integer
          and presented as a hexadecimal number (with lowercase
          letters).
         </member>
         <member>
          <literal>X</literal> - the argument is treated as an integer
          and presented as a hexadecimal number (with uppercase
          letters).
         </member>
        </simplelist>
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </orderedlist>
    </para>
    <para>
     As of PHP 4.0.6 the format string supports argument
     numbering/swapping.  Here is an example:
     <example>
      <title>Argument swapping</title>
      <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
$format = "There are %d monkeys in the %s";
printf($format, $num, $location);
?>
]]>
      </programlisting>
     </example>
     This might 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>
      <title>Argument swapping</title>
      <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
$format = "The %s contains %d monkeys";
printf($format, $num, $location);
?>
]]>
      </programlisting>
     </example>
     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>
      <title>Argument swapping</title>
      <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
$format = "The %2\$s contains %1\$d monkeys";
printf($format, $num, $location);
?>
]]>
      </programlisting>
     </example>
     An added benefit here is that you can repeat the placeholders without
     adding more arguments in the code.  For example:
     <example>
      <title>Argument swapping</title>
      <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
$format = "The %2\$s contains %1\$d monkeys.
           That's a nice %2\$s full of %1\$d monkeys.";
printf($format, $num, $location);
?>
]]>
      </programlisting>
     </example>
    </para>
    <simpara>
     See also <function>printf</function>,
     <function>sscanf</function>, <function>fscanf</function>, 
     <function>vsprintf</function>, and
     <function>number_format</function>.
    </simpara>
   </refsect1>
   <refsect1>
    <title>Examples</title>
    <example>
     <title><function>printf</function>: various examples</title>
     <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
$n =  43951789;
$u = -43951789;
$c = 65; // ASCII 65 is 'A'

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

printf("%%+d = '%+d'\n", $n); // sign specifier on a positive integer
printf("%%+d = '%+d'\n", $u); // sign specifier on a negative integer
?>
]]>
     </programlisting>
     <para>
      The printout of this program would be:
     </para>
     <screen>
<![CDATA[
%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'
]]>
     </screen>
    </example>
    <example>
     <title><function>printf</function>: string specifiers</title>
     <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
$s = 'monkey';
$t = 'many monkeys';

printf("[%s]\n",      $s); // standard string output
printf("[%10s]\n",    $s); // right-justification with spaces
printf("[%-10s]\n",   $s); // left-justification with spaces
printf("[%010s]\n",   $s); // zero-padding works on strings too
printf("[%'#10s]\n",  $s); // use the custom padding character '#'
printf("[%10.10s]\n", $t); // left-justification but with a cutoff of 10 characters
?>
]]>
     </programlisting>
     <para>
      The printout of this program would be:
     </para>
     <screen>
<![CDATA[
[monkey]
[    monkey]
[monkey    ]
[0000monkey]
[####monkey]
[many monke]
]]>
     </screen>
    </example>
    <example>
     <title><function>sprintf</function>: zero-padded integers</title>
     <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
$isodate = sprintf("%04d-%02d-%02d", $year, $month, $day);
?>
]]>
     </programlisting>
    </example>
    <example>
     <title><function>sprintf</function>: formatting currency</title>
     <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?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"
?>
]]>
     </programlisting>
    </example>
    <example>
     <title><function>sprintf</function>: scientific notation</title>
     <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
$number = 362525200;

echo sprintf("%.3e", $number); // outputs 3.63e+8
?>
]]>
     </programlisting>
    </example>
   </refsect1>
  </refentry>

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