sprintf

Example

Example 1

Replace the percent sign (%) symbol with a variable passed as a parameter:

 <?php
$number = 2 ;
$str = "Shanghai" ;
$txt = sprintf ( "There are %u million cars in %s." , $number , $str ) ;
echo $txt ;
?>

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Example 2

Use the format value %f:

 <?php
$number = 123 ;
$txt = sprintf ( "%f" , $number ) ;
echo $txt ;
?>

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Example 3

Use placeholders:

 <?php
$number = 123 ;
$txt = sprintf ( "with two decimal places: %1\$.2f
<br>No decimals: %1\$u" , $number ) ;
echo $txt ;
?>

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Example 4

Demonstration of all possible format values:

 <?php
$num1 = 123456789 ;
$num2 = - 123456789 ;
$char = 50 ; // ASCII character 50 is 2

// Comment: Format value "%%" returns a percent sign
echo sprintf ( "%%b = %b" , $num1 ) . "<br>" ; // Binary number
echo sprintf ( "%%c = %c" , $char ) . "<br>" ; // ASCII characters
echo sprintf ( "%%d = %d" , $num1 ) . "<br>" ; // Signed decimal number
echo sprintf ( "%%d = %d" , $num2 ) . "<br>" ; // Signed decimal number
echo sprintf ( "%%e = %e" , $num1 ) . "<br>" ; // Scientific notation (lowercase)
echo sprintf ( "%%E = %E" , $num1 ) . "<br>" ; // Scientific notation (caps)
echo sprintf ( "%%u = %u" , $num1 ) . "<br>" ; // Unsigned decimal number (positive)
echo sprintf ( "%%u = %u" , $num2 ) . "<br>" ; // Unsigned decimal number (negative)
echo sprintf ( "%%f = %f" , $num1 ) . "<br>" ; // Floating point number (depending on local settings)
echo sprintf ( "%%F = %F" , $num1 ) . "<br>" ; // Floating point number (not depending on local settings)
echo sprintf ( "%%g = %g" , $num1 ) . "<br>" ; // Shorter than %e and %f
echo sprintf ( "%%G = %G" , $num1 ) . "<br>" ; // Shorter than %E and %f
echo sprintf ( "%%o = %o" , $num1 ) . "<br>" ; // Octal number
echo sprintf ( "%%s = %s" , $num1 ) . "<br>" ; // String
echo sprintf ( "%%x = %x" , $num1 ) . "<br>" ; // Hexadecimal number (lowercase)
echo sprintf ( "%%X = %X" , $num1 ) . "<br>" ; // Hexadecimal number (caps)
echo sprintf ( "%%+d = %+d" , $num1 ) . "<br>" ; // Symbol specifier (positive)
echo sprintf ( "%%+d = %+d" , $num2 ) . "<br>" ; // Symbol specifier (negative)
?>

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Example 5

Demonstration of string specifiers:

 <?php
$str1 = "Hello" ;
$str2 = "Hello world!" ;

echo sprintf ( "[%s]" , $str1 ) . "<br>" ;
echo sprintf ( "[%8s]" , $str1 ) . "<br>" ;
echo sprintf ( "[%-8s]" , $str1 ) . "<br>" ;
echo sprintf ( "[%08s]" , $str1 ) . "<br>" ;
echo sprintf ( "[%'*8s]" , $str1 ) . "<br>" ;
echo sprintf ( "[%8.8s]" , $str2 ) . "<br>" ;
?>

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