C library function - sprintf()
Description
The C library function int sprintf(char *str, const char *format, ...) sends formatted output to a string pointed to, by str.
Declaration
Following is the declaration for sprintf() function.
int sprintf(char *str, const char *format, ...)
Parameters
str − This is the pointer to an array of char elements where the resulting C string is stored.
format − This is the String that contains the text to be written to buffer. It can optionally contain embedded format tags that are replaced by the
values specified in subsequent additional arguments and formatted as requested. Format tags prototype: %[flags][width][.precision]
[length]specifier, as explained below −
Sr.No. Specifier & Output
1
c
Character
2 d or i
Signed decimal integer
3
e
Scientific notation (mantissa/exponent) using e character
4
E
Scientific notation (mantissa/exponent) using E character
5
f
Decimal floating point
6
g
Uses the shorter of %e or %f.
7
G
Uses the shorter of %E or %f
8
o
Signed octal
9
s
String of characters
10
u
Unsigned decimal integer
11
x
Unsigned hexadecimal integer
12
X
Unsigned hexadecimal integer (capital letters)
13
p
Pointer address
14
n
Nothing printed
15
%
Character
Sr.No. Flags & Description
1
-
Left-justify within the given field width; Right justification is the default (see width sub-specifier).
2
+
Forces to precede the result with a plus or minus sign (+ or -) even for positive numbers. By default, only negative numbers are
preceded with a -ve sign.
3
(space)
If no sign is going to be written, a blank space is inserted before the value.
4 #
Used with o, x or X specifiers the value is preceded with 0, 0x or 0X respectively for values different than zero. Used with e, E and f, it
forces the written output to contain a decimal point even if no digits would follow. By default, if no digits follow, no decimal point is
written. Used with g or G the result is the same as with e or E but trailing zeros are not removed.
5
0
Left-pads the number with zeroes (0) instead of spaces, where padding is specified (see width sub-specifier).
Sr.No. Width & Description
1
(number)
Minimum number of characters to be printed. If the value to be printed is shorter than this number, the result is padded with blank
spaces. The value is not truncated even if the result is larger.
2
*
The width is not specified in the format string, but as an additional integer value argument preceding the argument that has to be
formatted.
Sr.No. .precision & Description
1
.number
For integer specifiers (d, i, o, u, x, X) − precision specifies the minimum number of digits to be written. If the value to be written is
shorter than this number, the result is padded with leading zeros. The value is not truncated even if the result is longer. A precision of 0
means that no character is written for the value 0. For e, E and f specifiers − this is the number of digits to be printed after the decimal
point. For g and G specifiers − This is the maximum number of significant digits to be printed. For s − this is the maximum number of
characters to be printed. By default all characters are printed until the ending null character is encountered. For c type − it has no effect.
When no precision is specified, the default is 1. If the period is specified without an explicit value for precision, 0 is assumed.
2
.*
The precision is not specified in the format string, but as an additional integer value argument preceding the argument that has to be
formatted.
Sr.No. Length & Description
1
h
The argument is interpreted as a short int or unsigned short int (only applies to integer specifiers: i, d, o, u, x and X).
2
l
The argument is interpreted as a long int or unsigned long int for integer specifiers (i, d, o, u, x and X), and as a wide character or wide
character string for specifiers c and s.
3
L
The argument is interpreted as a long double (only applies to floating point specifiers − e, E, f, g and G).
additional arguments − Depending on the format string, the function may expect a sequence of additional arguments, each containing one
value to be inserted instead of each %-tag specified in the format parameter (if any). There should be the same number of these arguments as
the number of %-tags that expect a value.
Return Value
If successful, the total number of characters written is returned excluding the null-character appended at the end of the string, otherwise a negative
number is returned in case of failure.
Example
The following example shows the usage of sprintf() function.
Live Demo
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>
int main () {
char str[80];
sprintf(str, "Value of Pi = %f", M_PI);
puts(str);
return(0);
}
Let us compile and run the above program, this will produce the following result −
Value of Pi = 3.141593
