std::string formatting like sprintf

Question

I have to format std::string with sprintf and send it into file stream. How can I do this?

Answer 1

UPDATE 1: added fmt::format tests

I've took my own investigation around methods has introduced here and gain diametrically opposite results versus mentioned here.

I have used 4 functions over 4 methods:

• variadic function + vsnprintf + std::unique_ptr
• variadic function + vsnprintf + std::string
• variadic template function + std::ostringstream + std::tuple + utility::for_each
• fmt::format function from fmt library

For the test backend the googletest has used.

#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 

#include 

inline std::string string_format(size_t string_reserve, const std::string fmt_str, ...)
{
    size_t str_len = (std::max)(fmt_str.size(), string_reserve);

    // plain buffer is a bit faster here than std::string::reserve
    std::unique_ptr formatted;

    va_list ap;
    va_start(ap, fmt_str);

    while (true) {
        formatted.reset(new char[str_len]);

        const int final_n = vsnprintf(&formatted[0], str_len, fmt_str.c_str(), ap);

        if (final_n < 0 || final_n >= int(str_len))
            str_len += (std::abs)(final_n - int(str_len) + 1);
        else
            break;
    }

    va_end(ap);

    return std::string(formatted.get());
}

inline std::string string_format2(size_t string_reserve, const std::string fmt_str, ...)
{
    size_t str_len = (std::max)(fmt_str.size(), string_reserve);
    std::string str;

    va_list ap;
    va_start(ap, fmt_str);

    while (true) {
        str.resize(str_len);

        const int final_n = vsnprintf(const_cast(str.data()), str_len, fmt_str.c_str(), ap);

        if (final_n < 0 || final_n >= int(str_len))
            str_len += (std::abs)(final_n - int(str_len) + 1);
        else {
            str.resize(final_n); // do not forget to shrink the size!
            break;
        }
    }

    va_end(ap);

    return str;
}

template 
inline std::string string_format3(size_t string_reserve, Args... args)
{
    std::ostringstream ss;
    if (string_reserve) {
        ss.rdbuf()->str().reserve(string_reserve);
    }
    std::tuple t{ args... };
    utility::for_each(t, [&ss](auto & v)
    {
        ss << v;
    });
    return ss.str();
}

The for_each implementation is taken from here: iterate over tuple

#include 
#include 

namespace utility {

    template 
    inline typename std::enable_if::type
        for_each(std::tuple &, const FuncT &)
    {
    }

    template
    inline typename std::enable_if::type
        for_each(std::tuple & t, const FuncT & f)
    {
        f(std::get(t));
        for_each(t, f);
    }

}

The tests:

TEST(ExternalFuncs, test_string_format_on_unique_ptr_0)
{
    for (size_t i = 0; i < 1000000; i++) {
        const std::string v = string_format(0, "%s+%u\n", "test test test", 12345);
        UTILITY_SUPPRESS_OPTIMIZATION_ON_VAR(v);
    }
}

TEST(ExternalFuncs, test_string_format_on_unique_ptr_256)
{
    for (size_t i = 0; i < 1000000; i++) {
        const std::string v = string_format(256, "%s+%u\n", "test test test", 12345);
        UTILITY_SUPPRESS_OPTIMIZATION_ON_VAR(v);
    }
}

TEST(ExternalFuncs, test_string_format_on_std_string_0)
{
    for (size_t i = 0; i < 1000000; i++) {
        const std::string v = string_format2(0, "%s+%u\n", "test test test", 12345);
        UTILITY_SUPPRESS_OPTIMIZATION_ON_VAR(v);
    }
}

TEST(ExternalFuncs, test_string_format_on_std_string_256)
{
    for (size_t i = 0; i < 1000000; i++) {
        const std::string v = string_format2(256, "%s+%u\n", "test test test", 12345);
        UTILITY_SUPPRESS_OPTIMIZATION_ON_VAR(v);
    }
}

TEST(ExternalFuncs, test_string_format_on_string_stream_on_variadic_tuple_0)
{
    for (size_t i = 0; i < 1000000; i++) {
        const std::string v = string_format3(0, "test test test", "+", 12345, "\n");
        UTILITY_SUPPRESS_OPTIMIZATION_ON_VAR(v);
    }
}

TEST(ExternalFuncs, test_string_format_on_string_stream_on_variadic_tuple_256)
{
    for (size_t i = 0; i < 1000000; i++) {
        const std::string v = string_format3(256, "test test test", "+", 12345, "\n");
        UTILITY_SUPPRESS_OPTIMIZATION_ON_VAR(v);
    }
}

TEST(ExternalFuncs, test_string_format_on_string_stream_inline_0)
{
    for (size_t i = 0; i < 1000000; i++) {
        std::ostringstream ss;
        ss << "test test test" << "+" << 12345 << "\n";
        const std::string v = ss.str();
        UTILITY_SUPPRESS_OPTIMIZATION_ON_VAR(v);
    }
}

TEST(ExternalFuncs, test_string_format_on_string_stream_inline_256)
{
    for (size_t i = 0; i < 1000000; i++) {
        std::ostringstream ss;
        ss.rdbuf()->str().reserve(256);
        ss << "test test test" << "+" << 12345 << "\n";
        const std::string v = ss.str();
        UTILITY_SUPPRESS_OPTIMIZATION_ON_VAR(v);
    }
}

TEST(ExternalFuncs, test_fmt_format_positional)
{
    for (size_t i = 0; i < 1000000; i++) {
        const std::string v = fmt::format("{0:s}+{1:d}\n", "test test test", 12345);
        UTILITY_SUPPRESS_OPTIMIZATION_ON_VAR(v);
    }
}

TEST(ExternalFuncs, test_fmt_format_named)
{
    for (size_t i = 0; i < 1000000; i++) {
        const std::string v = fmt::format("{first:s}+{second:d}\n", fmt::arg("first", "test test test"), fmt::arg("second", 12345));
        UTILITY_SUPPRESS_OPTIMIZATION_ON_VAR(v);
    }
}

The UTILITY_SUPPRESS_OPTIMIZATION_ON_VAR.

unsued.hpp:

#define UTILITY_SUPPRESS_OPTIMIZATION_ON_VAR(var)   ::utility::unused_param(&var)

namespace utility {

    extern const volatile void * volatile g_unused_param_storage_ptr;

    extern void
#ifdef __GNUC__
    __attribute__((optimize("O0")))
#endif
        unused_param(const volatile void * p);

}

unused.cpp:

namespace utility {

    const volatile void * volatile g_unused_param_storage_ptr = nullptr;

    void
#ifdef __GNUC__
    __attribute__((optimize("O0")))
#endif
        unused_param(const volatile void * p)
    {
        g_unused_param_storage_ptr = p;
    }

}

RESULTS:

[ RUN      ] ExternalFuncs.test_string_format_on_unique_ptr_0
[       OK ] ExternalFuncs.test_string_format_on_unique_ptr_0 (556 ms)
[ RUN      ] ExternalFuncs.test_string_format_on_unique_ptr_256
[       OK ] ExternalFuncs.test_string_format_on_unique_ptr_256 (331 ms)
[ RUN      ] ExternalFuncs.test_string_format_on_std_string_0
[       OK ] ExternalFuncs.test_string_format_on_std_string_0 (457 ms)
[ RUN      ] ExternalFuncs.test_string_format_on_std_string_256
[       OK ] ExternalFuncs.test_string_format_on_std_string_256 (279 ms)
[ RUN      ] ExternalFuncs.test_string_format_on_string_stream_on_variadic_tuple_0
[       OK ] ExternalFuncs.test_string_format_on_string_stream_on_variadic_tuple_0 (1214 ms)
[ RUN      ] ExternalFuncs.test_string_format_on_string_stream_on_variadic_tuple_256
[       OK ] ExternalFuncs.test_string_format_on_string_stream_on_variadic_tuple_256 (1325 ms)
[ RUN      ] ExternalFuncs.test_string_format_on_string_stream_inline_0
[       OK ] ExternalFuncs.test_string_format_on_string_stream_inline_0 (1208 ms)
[ RUN      ] ExternalFuncs.test_string_format_on_string_stream_inline_256
[       OK ] ExternalFuncs.test_string_format_on_string_stream_inline_256 (1302 ms)
[ RUN      ] ExternalFuncs.test_fmt_format_positional
[       OK ] ExternalFuncs.test_fmt_format_positional (288 ms)
[ RUN      ] ExternalFuncs.test_fmt_format_named
[       OK ] ExternalFuncs.test_fmt_format_named (392 ms)

As you can see implementation through the vsnprintf+std::string is equal to fmt::format, but faster than through the vsnprintf+std::unique_ptr, which is faster than through the std::ostringstream.

The tests compiled in Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 and run at Windows 7 x64 / Intel Core i7-4820K CPU @ 3.70GHz / 16GB.