Sprintf
A formatted-output function or operation that converts supplied values according to a format specification and produces formatted character data.
Modern C
sprintf is a C standard library function that formats output into a character array without providing a destination-size bound.
- How it is used
- Formats numbers and other values into a character array while constructing text in memory.
- How deep it goes
- Explains formatting, termination, return length, and overflow risk, while deferring bounded construction to snprintf.
- Examples
- Demonstrates sprintnumbers, repeated number formatting, separator copying, and the format string "%#zX".
- What you can do after
- Apply it via the C standard library while recognizing when bounded formatting is required.
Modern C, Third Edition
sprintf is a C standard-library function that formats converted values into a character array without imposing a destination-size limit.
- How it is used
- Formats parsed numbers into a string while advancing a destination-buffer pointer.
- How deep it goes
- Explains formatting, termination, return length, and overflow risk, then defers bounded output to snprintf.
- Examples
- Uses sprintnumbers to format numbers, insert separators, advance a buffer pointer, and append a newline.
- What you can do after
- Apply sprintf when the destination capacity is already known, and select snprintf for unknown-length output.
Related concepts
- snprintfalternative to · snprintf is a C standard-library function that formats output into a character array within a specified size limit and returns the required output length.
- string formattingimplements · String formatting is the construction of text from values according to a specified format or template.
- String functionproduces · The JavaScript String function converts a value to its textual string representation.
- printfuses · printf is a formatted-output API that uses a format specification and supplied values to produce text, either returning it or writing it to an output destination.
- templatealternative to · A template is a reusable structure with fixed elements and variable parts for creating or generating similar content, outputs, or artifacts.
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