1 This is autosprintf.info, produced by makeinfo version 5.1 from
4 Copyright (C) 2002-2003, 2006-2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
6 This manual is free documentation. It is dually licensed under the
7 GNU FDL and the GNU GPL. This means that you can redistribute this
8 manual under either of these two licenses, at your choice.
10 This manual is covered by the GNU FDL. Permission is granted to copy,
11 distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free
12 Documentation License (FDL), either version 1.2 of the License, or (at
13 your option) any later version published by the Free Software Foundation
14 (FSF); with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Text, and with no
15 Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is at
16 <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html>.
18 This manual is covered by the GNU GPL. You can redistribute it and/or
19 modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL),
20 either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version
21 published by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). A copy of the license
22 is at <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
23 INFO-DIR-SECTION C++ libraries
25 * autosprintf: (autosprintf). Support for printf format strings in C++.
28 This file provides documentation for GNU 'autosprintf' library.
31 File: autosprintf.info, Node: Top, Next: Introduction, Prev: (dir), Up: (dir)
36 This manual documents the GNU autosprintf class, version 1.0.
40 * Introduction:: Introduction
41 * Class autosprintf:: The 'autosprintf' class
42 * Using autosprintf:: Using 'autosprintf' in own programs
45 File: autosprintf.info, Node: Introduction, Next: Class autosprintf, Prev: Top, Up: Top
50 This package makes the C formatted output routines ('fprintf' et al.)
51 usable in C++ programs, for use with the '<string>' strings and the
54 It allows to write code like
56 cerr << autosprintf ("syntax error in %s:%d: %s", filename, line, errstring);
60 cerr << "syntax error in " << filename << ":" << line << ": " << errstring;
62 The benefits of the autosprintf syntax are:
64 * It reuses the standard POSIX printf facility. Easy migration from
67 * English sentences are kept together.
69 * It makes internationalization possible. Internationalization
70 requires format strings, because in some cases the translator needs
71 to change the order of a sentence, and more generally it is easier
72 for the translator to work with a single string for a sentence than
73 with multiple string pieces.
75 * It reduces the risk of programming errors due to forgotten state in
76 the output stream (e.g. 'cout << hex;' not followed by 'cout <<
80 File: autosprintf.info, Node: Class autosprintf, Next: Using autosprintf, Prev: Introduction, Up: Top
82 2 The 'autosprintf' class
83 *************************
85 An instance of class 'autosprintf' just contains a string with the
86 formatted output result. Such an instance is usually allocated as an
87 automatic storage variable, i.e. on the stack, not with 'new' on the
90 The constructor 'autosprintf (const char *format, ...)' takes a
91 format string and additional arguments, like the C function 'printf'.
93 Conversions to 'char *' and 'std::string' are defined that return the
94 encapsulated string. The conversion to 'char *' returns a freshly
95 allocated copy of the encapsulated string; it needs to be freed using
96 'delete[]'. The conversion to 'std::string' returns a copy of the
97 encapsulated string, with automatic memory management.
99 The destructor '~autosprintf ()' destroys the encapsulated string.
101 An 'operator <<' is provided that outputs the encapsulated string to
105 File: autosprintf.info, Node: Using autosprintf, Prev: Class autosprintf, Up: Top
107 3 Using 'autosprintf' in own programs
108 *************************************
110 To use the 'autosprintf' class in your programs, you need to add
112 #include "autosprintf.h"
113 using gnu::autosprintf;
115 to your source code. The include file defines the class 'autosprintf',
116 in a namespace called 'gnu'. The 'using' statement makes it possible to
117 use the class without the (otherwise natural) 'gnu::' prefix.
119 When linking your program, you need to link with 'libasprintf',
120 because that's where the class is defined. In projects using GNU
121 'autoconf', this means adding 'AC_LIB_LINKFLAGS([asprintf])' to
122 'configure.in' or 'configure.ac', and using the @LIBASPRINTF@ Makefile
123 variable that it provides.
129 Node: Introduction
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130 Node: Class autosprintf
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131 Node: Using autosprintf
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