Perl in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Name

sprintf

Synopsis

sprintf format, list
                  

Returns a string formatted by the printf conventions. The format string contains text with embedded field specifiers into which the elements of list are substituted, one per field. Field specifiers are roughly of the form:

%m.nx

in which m and n are optional sizes with interpretation that depends on the type of field, and xis one of the following:

Code	Meaning
%	Percent sign
c	Character
d	Decimal integer
e	Exponential format floating-point number
E	Exponential format floating-point number with uppercase E
f	Fixed-point format floating-point number
g	Floating-point number, in either exponential or fixed decimal notation
G	Like g with uppercase E (if applicable)
ld	Long decimal integer
lo	Long octal integer
lu	Long unsigned decimal integer
lx	Long hexadecimal integer
o	Octal integer
s	String
u	Unsigned decimal integer
x	Hexadecimal integer
X	Hexadecimal integer with uppercase letters
p	The Perl value’s address in hexadecimal
n	Special value that stores the number of characters output so far into the next variable in the parameter list.

m is typically the minimum length of the field (negative for left-justified), and nis precision for exponential formats and the maximum length for other formats. Padding is typically done with spaces for strings and zeroes for numbers. The * character as a length specifier is not supported.