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format

Insert supplied variable values into a format string.

Installation

npm install @stdlib/string-format

Alternatively,

• To load the package in a website via a script tag without installation and bundlers, use the ES Module available on the esm branch (see README).
• If you are using Deno, visit the deno branch (see README for usage intructions).
• For use in Observable, or in browser/node environments, use the Universal Module Definition (UMD) build available on the umd branch (see README).

The branches.md file summarizes the available branches and displays a diagram illustrating their relationships.

To view installation and usage instructions specific to each branch build, be sure to explicitly navigate to the respective README files on each branch, as linked to above.

Usage

var format = require( '@stdlib/string-format' );

format( str, ...args )

Inserts supplied variable values into a format string.

var str = 'Hello, %s! My name is %s.';
var out = format( str, 'world', 'Bob' );
// returns 'Hello, world! My name is Bob.'

The format string is a string literal containing zero or more conversion specifications, each of which results in a string value being inserted to the output string. A conversion specification consists of a percent sign (%) followed by one or more of the following flags, width, precision, and conversion type characters. It thus takes the following form:

%[flags][width][.precision]specifier

Arguments following the format string are used to replace the placeholders in the format string. The number of arguments following the format string should be equal to the number of placeholders in the format string.

var str = '%s %s';
var out = format( str, 'Hello', 'World' );
// returns 'Hello World'

To supply arguments in a different order than they appear in the format string, positional placeholders as indicated by a $ character in the format string are used. In this case, the conversion specification takes the form:

%[pos$][flags][width][.precision]specifier

var str = '%3$s %2$s %1$s';
var out = format( str, 'foo', 'bar', 'baz' );
// returns 'baz bar foo'

The following table summarizes the supported specifiers:

type	description	example
s	string	beep boop
c	character	a
d, i	signed decimal integer	-12
u	unsigned decimal integer	390
b	unsigned binary integer	11011011
o	unsigned octal integer	510
x	unsigned hexadecimal (lowercase)	7b
X	unsigned hexadecimal (uppercase)	7B
f, F	decimal floating point	390.24
e	scientific notation (lowercase)	3.9e+1
E	scientific notation (uppercase)	3.9E+1
g	shortest representation (e/f)	3.9
G	shortest representation (E/F)	3.9

var str = '%i written as a binary number is %b.';
var out = format( str, 9, 9 );
// returns '9 written as a binary number is 1001.'

str = '%i written as an octal number is %o.';
out = format( str, 17, 17 );
// returns '17 written as an octal number is 21.'

str = '%i written as a hexadecimal number is %x.';
out = format( str, 255, 255 );
// returns '255 written as a hexadecimal number is ff.'

str = '%i written as a hexadecimal number is %X (uppercase letters).';
out = format( str, 255, 255 );
// returns '255 written as a hexadecimal number is FF (uppercase letters).'

str = '%i written as a floating point number with default precision is %f!';
out = format( str, 8, 8 );
// returns '8 written as a floating point number with default precision is 8.000000!'

str = 'Scientific notation: %e';
out = format( str, 3.14159 );
// returns 'Scientific notation: 3.141590e+00'

str = 'Scientific notation: %E (uppercase).';
out = format( str, 3.14159 );
// returns 'Scientific notation: 3.141590E+00 (uppercase).'

str = '%g (shortest representation)';
out = format( str, 3.14159 );
// returns '3.14159'

A conversion specification may contain zero or more flags, which modify the behavior of the conversion. The following flags are supported:

flag	description
-	left-justify the output within the given field width by padding with spaces on the right
0	left-pad the output with zeros instead of spaces when padding is required
#	use an alternative format for o and x conversions
+	prefix the output with a plus (+) or minus (-) sign even if the value is a positive number
space	prefix the value with a space character if no sign is written

var str = 'Always prefix with a sign: %+i';
var out = format( str, 9 );
// returns 'Always prefix with a sign: +9'

out = format( str, -9 );
// returns 'Always prefix with a sign: -9'

str = 'Only prefix with a sign if negative: %i';
out = format( str, 6 );
// returns 'Only prefix with a sign if negative: 6'

out = format( str, -6 );
// returns 'Only prefix with a sign if negative: -6'

str = 'Prefix with a sign if negative and a space if positive: % i';
out = format( str, 3 );
// returns 'Prefix with a sign if negative and a space if positive:  3'

out = format( str, -3 );
// returns 'Prefix with a sign if negative and a space if positive: -3'

The width may be specified as a decimal integer representing the minimum number of characters to be written to the output. If the value to be written is shorter than this number, the result is padded with spaces on the left. The value is not truncated even if the result is larger. Alternatively, the width may be specified as an asterisk character (*), in which case the argument preceding the conversion specification is used as the minimum field width.

var str = '%5s';
var out = format( str, 'baz' );
// returns '  baz'

str = '%-5s';
out = format( str, 'baz' );
// returns 'baz  '

str = '%05i';
out = format( str, 2 );
// returns '00002'

str = '%*i';
out = format( str, 5, 2 );
// returns '   2'

The precision may be specified as a decimal integer or as an asterisk character (*), in which case the argument preceding the conversion specification is used as the precision value. The behavior of the precision differs depending on the conversion type:

• For s specifiers, the precision specifies the maximum number of characters to be written to the output.
• For floating point specifiers (f, F, e, E), the precision specifies the number of digits after the decimal point to be written to the output (by default, this is 6).
• For g and G specifiers, the precision specifies the maximum number of significant digits to be written to the output.
• For integer specifiers (d, i, u, b, o, x, X), the precision specifies the minimum number of digits to be written to the output. If the value to be written is shorter than this number, the result is padded with zeros on the left. The value is not truncated even if the result is longer. For

Alternatively, the precision may be specified as an asterisk character (*), in which case the argument preceding the conversion specification is used as the minimum number of digits.

var str = '%5.2s';
var out = format( str, 'baz' );
// returns '   ba'

str = 'PI: ~%.2f';
out = format( str, 3.14159 );
// returns 'PI: ~3.14'

str = 'Agent %.3i';
out = format( str, 7 );
// returns 'Agent 007'

Examples

var format = require( '@stdlib/string-format' );

var out = format( '%s %s!', 'Hello', 'World' );
// returns 'Hello World!'

out = format( 'Pi: ~%.2f', 3.141592653589793 );
// returns 'Pi: ~3.14'

out = format( '%-10s %-10s', 'a', 'b' );
// returns 'a       b       '

out = format( '%10s %10s', 'a', 'b' );
// returns '       a       b'

out = format( '%2$s %1$s %3$s', 'b', 'a', 'c' );
// returns 'a b c'

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Notice

This package is part of stdlib, a standard library for JavaScript and Node.js, with an emphasis on numerical and scientific computing. The library provides a collection of robust, high performance libraries for mathematics, statistics, streams, utilities, and more.

For more information on the project, filing bug reports and feature requests, and guidance on how to develop stdlib, see the main project repository.

Community

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License

See LICENSE.

Copyright

Copyright © 2016-2024. The Stdlib Authors.