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

This is the code I use to do this in my program... It's nothing fancy, but it does the trick... Note, you will have to adjust your size as applicable. MAX_BUFFER for me is 1024.

std::string Format ( const char *fmt, ... )
{
    char textString[MAX_BUFFER*5] = {'\0'};

    // -- Empty the buffer properly to ensure no leaks.
    memset(textString, '\0', sizeof(textString));

    va_list args;
    va_start ( args, fmt );
    vsnprintf ( textString, MAX_BUFFER*5, fmt, args );
    va_end ( args );
    std::string retStr = textString;
    return retStr;
}

Answer 2

I usually use this:

std::string myformat(const char *const fmt, ...)
{
        char *buffer = NULL;
        va_list ap;

        va_start(ap, fmt);
        (void)vasprintf(&buffer, fmt, ap);
        va_end(ap);

        std::string result = buffer;
        free(buffer);

        return result;
}

Disadvantage: not all systems support vasprint

Answer 3

In order to format std::string in a 'sprintf' manner, call snprintf (arguments nullptr and 0) to get length of buffer needed. Write your function using C++11 variadic template like this:

#include <cstdio>
#include <string>
#include <cassert>

template< typename... Args >
std::string string_sprintf( const char* format, Args... args ) {
  int length = std::snprintf( nullptr, 0, format, args... );
  assert( length >= 0 );

  char* buf = new char[length + 1];
  std::snprintf( buf, length + 1, format, args... );

  std::string str( buf );
  delete[] buf;
  return str;
}

Compile with C++11 support, for example in GCC: g++ -std=c++11

Usage:

  std::cout << string_sprintf("%g, %g\n", 1.23, 0.001);

Answer 4

If you are on a system that has asprintf(3), you can easily wrap it:

#include <iostream>
#include <cstdarg>
#include <cstdio>

std::string format(const char *fmt, ...) __attribute__ ((format (printf, 1, 2)));

std::string format(const char *fmt, ...)
{
    std::string result;

    va_list ap;
    va_start(ap, fmt);

    char *tmp = 0;
    int res = vasprintf(&tmp, fmt, ap);
    va_end(ap);

    if (res != -1) {
        result = tmp;
        free(tmp);
    } else {
        // The vasprintf call failed, either do nothing and
        // fall through (will return empty string) or
        // throw an exception, if your code uses those
    }

    return result;
}

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    std::string username = "you";
    std::cout << format("Hello %s! %d", username.c_str(), 123) << std::endl;
    return 0;
}

Answer 5

Below slightly modified version of @iFreilicht answer, updated to C++14 (usage of make_unique function instead of raw declaration) and added support for std::string arguments (based on Kenny Kerr article)

#include <iostream>
#include <memory>
#include <string>
#include <cstdio>

template <typename T>
T process_arg(T value) noexcept
{
    return value;
}

template <typename T>
T const * process_arg(std::basic_string<T> const & value) noexcept
{
    return value.c_str();
}

template<typename ... Args>
std::string string_format(const std::string& format, Args const & ... args)
{
    const auto fmt = format.c_str();
    const size_t size = std::snprintf(nullptr, 0, fmt, process_arg(args) ...) + 1;
    auto buf = std::make_unique<char[]>(size);
    std::snprintf(buf.get(), size, fmt, process_arg(args) ...);
    auto res = std::string(buf.get(), buf.get() + size - 1);
    return res;
}

int main()
{
    int i = 3;
    float f = 5.f;
    char* s0 = "hello";
    std::string s1 = "world";
    std::cout << string_format("i=%d, f=%f, s=%s %s", i, f, s0, s1) << "\n";
}

Output:

i = 3, f = 5.000000, s = hello world

Feel free to merge this answer with the original one if desired.

Answer 6

You can format C++ output in cout using iomanip header file. Make sure that you include iomanip header file before you use any of the helper functions like setprecision, setfill etc.

Here is a code snippet I have used in the past to print the average waiting time in the vector, which I have "accumulated".

#include<iomanip>
#include<iostream>
#include<vector>
#include<numeric>

...

cout<< "Average waiting times for tasks is " << setprecision(4) << accumulate(all(waitingTimes), 0)/double(waitingTimes.size()) ;
cout << " and " << Q.size() << " tasks remaining" << endl;

Here is a brief description of how we can format C++ streams. http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial/iomanip.html