printf, fprintf, sprintf, snprintf

 

C

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Type support

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Program utilities

Date and time utilities

Strings library

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Input/output support

Localization support

Thread support (C11)

Atomic operations (C11)

 

File input/output

Functions
File access
fopen freopen fclose fflush	fwide setbuf setvbuf
Direct input/output
fread
fwrite
Unformatted input/output
fgetc fgets fputc fputs getchar gets putchar puts ungetc	fgetwc fgetws fputwc fputws getwchar putwchar ungetwc
Formatted input/output
scanf fscanf sscanf vscanf vfscanf vsscanf (C99) (C99) (C99) printf fprintf sprintf snprintf (C99) vprintf vfprintf vsprintf vsnprintf (C99)	wscanf fwscanf swscanf vwscanf vfwscanf vswscanf (C99) (C99) (C99) wprintf fwprintf swprintf vwprintf vfwprintf vswprintf
File positioning
ftell
fgetpos
fseek
fsetpos
rewind
Error handling
clearerr
feof
ferror
perror
Operations on files
remove
rename
tmpfile
tmpnam

 

Defined in header <stdio.h>
​int printf( const char *format, ... );​	(1)
int fprintf( FILE *stream, const char *format, ... );	(2)
int sprintf( char *buffer, const char *format, ... );	(3)
int snprintf( char *buffer, int buf_size, const char *format, ... );	(4)	(since C99)

Loads the data from the given locations, converts them to character string equivalents and writes the results to a variety of sinks.

1) Writes the results to stdout.

2) Writes the results to a file stream stream.

3) Writes the results to a character string buffer.

4) Writes the results to a character string buffer. At most buf_size - 1 characters are written. The resulting character string will be terminated with a null character, unless buf_size is zero.

Parameters

stream	-	output file stream to write to
buffer	-	pointer to a character string to write to
buf_size	-	up to buf_size - 1 characters may be written, plus the null terminator
format	-	pointer to a null-terminated multibyte string specifying how to interpret the data. The format string consists of whitespace characters, non-whitespace characters (except %) and conversion specifications. Each conversion specification has the following format: introductory % character (optional) one or more flags that modify the behavior of the conversion: -: the result of the conversion is left-justified within the field (by default it is right-justified) +: the sign of signed conversions is always prepended to the result of the conversion (by default the result is preceded by minus only when it is negative) space: if the result of a signed conversion does not start with a sign character, or is empty, space is prepended to the result. It is ignored if + flag is present. # : alternative form of the conversion is performed. See the table below for exact effects. 0 : for integer and floating point number conversions, leading zeros are used to pad the field instead of space characters. For floating point numbers it is ignored if the precision is explicitly specified. For other conversions using this flag results in undefined behavior. It is ignored if - flag is present. (optional) integer value or * that specifies minimum field width. The result is padded with space characters (by default), if required, on the left when right-justified, or on the right if left-justified. In the case when * is used, the width is specified by an additional argument of type int. If the value of the argument is negative, it results with the - flag specified and positive field width. (optional) . followed by integer number or * that specifies precision of the conversion. In the case when * is used, the precision is specified by an additional argument of type int. If the value of this argument is negative, it is ignored. See the table below for exact effects of precision. (optional) length modifier that specifies the size of the argument conversion format specifier The following format specifiers are available: Conversion specifier Explanation Argument type length modifier hh h (none) l ll j z t L % writes literal %. The full conversion specification must be %%. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A c writes a single character N/A N/A char wchar_t N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A s writes a character string N/A N/A char* wchar_t* N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A d i converts a signed decimal integer in the style [-]dddd. Precision specifies the minimum number of digits to appear. The default precision is 1. If both the converted value and the precision are ​0​ the conversion results in no characters. signed char signed short signed int signed long signed long long intmax_t size_t ptrdiff_t N/A o converts a signed octal integer in the style [-]oooo. Precision specifies the minimum number of digits to appear. The default precision is 1. If both the converted value and the precision are ​0​ the conversion results in no characters. In the alternative implementation precision is increased if necessary, to write one leading zero. In that case if both the converted value and the precision are ​0​, single ​0​ is written. signed char signed short signed int signed long signed long long intmax_t size_t ptrdiff_t N/A x X converts a signed hexadecimal integer in the style [-]hhhh. For the x conversion letters abcdef are used. For the X conversion letters ABCDEF are used. Precision specifies the minimum number of digits to appear. The default precision is 1. If both the converted value and the precision are ​0​ the conversion results in no characters. In the alternative implementation 0x or 0X is prefixed to results if the converted value is nonzero. signed char signed short signed int signed long signed long long intmax_t size_t ptrdiff_t N/A u converts an unsigned decimal integer in the style dddd. Precision specifies the minimum number of digits to appear. The default precision is 1. If both the converted value and the precision are ​0​ the conversion results in no characters. unsigned char unsigned short unsigned int unsigned long unsigned long long uintmax_t size_t ptrdiff_t N/A f F converts floating-point number to the decimal notation in the style [-]ddd.ddd. Precision specifies the minimum number of digits to appear after the decimal point character. The default precision is 6. In the alternative implementation decimal point character is written even if no digits follow it. For infinity and not-a-number conversion style see notes. N/A N/A double double N/A N/A N/A N/A long double e E converts floating-point number to the decimal exponent notation. For the e conversion style [-]d.ddde±dd is used. For the E conversion style [-]d.dddE±dd is used. The exponent contains at least two digits, more digits are used only if necessary. If the value is ​0​, the exponent is also ​0​. Precision specifies the minimum number of digits to appear after the decimal point character. The default precision is 6. In the alternative implementation decimal point character is written even if no digits follow it. For infinity and not-a-number conversion style see notes. N/A N/A double double N/A N/A N/A N/A long double a A converts floating-point number to the hexadecimal exponent notation. For the a conversion style [-]0xh.hhhp±d is used. For the A conversion style [-]0Xh.hhhP±d is used. The first hexadecimal digit is 0 if the argument is not a normalized floating point value. If the value is ​0​, the exponent is also ​0​. Precision specifies the minimum number of digits to appear after the decimal point character. The default precision is sufficient for exact representation of the value. In the alternative implementation decimal point character is written even if no digits follow it. For infinity and not-a-number conversion style see notes. N/A N/A double double N/A N/A N/A N/A long double g G converts floating-point number to decimal or decimal exponent notation depending on the value and the precision. For the g conversion style conversion with style e or f will be performed. For the G conversion style conversion with style E or F will be performed. Let P equal the precision if nonzero, 6 if the precision is not specified, or 1 if the precision is ​0​. Then, if a conversion with style E would have an exponent of X: if P > X ≥ −4, the conversion is with style f or F and precision P − 1 − X. otherwise, the conversion is with style e or E and precision P − 1. Unless alternative representation is requested the trailing zeros are removed, also the decimal point character is removed if no fractional part is left. For infinity and not-a-number conversion style see notes. N/A N/A double double N/A N/A N/A N/A long double n returns the number of characters written so far by this call to the function. The result is written to the value pointed to by the argument. The complete specification must be %n. N/A N/A int* N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A p writes an implementation defined character sequence defining a pointer. N/A N/A void* N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Notes: The floating point conversion functions convert infinity to inf or infinity. Which one is used is implementation defined. Not-a-number is converted to nan or nan(char_sequence). Which one is used is implementation defined. The conversions F, E, G, A output INF, INFINITY, NAN instead.
...	-	arguments specifying data to print

Return value

1-3) number of characters written if successful or negative value if an error occurred.

4) number of characters written if successful or negative value if an error occurred. If the resulting string gets truncated due to buf_size limit, function returns the total number of characters (not including the terminating null-byte) which would have been written, if the limit was not imposed.

Example

#include <stdio.h>
 
int main()
{
    printf("Strings:\n");
    const char* s = "Hello";
    printf("\t.%10s.\n\t.%-10s.\n\t.%*s.\n", s, s, 10, s);
 
    printf("Characters:\t%c %%\n", 65);
 
    printf("Integers\n");
    printf("Decimal:\t%i %d %.6i %i %.0i %+i %u\n", 1, 2, 3, 0, 0, 4, -1);
    printf("Hexadecimal:\t%x %x %X %#x\n", 5, 10, 10, 6);
    printf("Octal:\t%o %#o %#o\n", 10, 10, 4);
 
    printf("Floating point\n");
    printf("Rounding:\t%f %.0f %.32f\n", 1.5, 1.5, 1.3);
    printf("Padding:\t%05.2f %.2f %5.2f\n", 1.5, 1.5, 1.5);
    printf("Scientific:\t%E %e\n", 1.5, 1.5);
    printf("Hexadecimal:\t%a %A\n", 1.5, 1.5);
}

Output:

Strings:
    .     Hello.
    .Hello     .
    .     Hello.
Characters:     A %
Integers
Decimal:        1 2 000003 0  +4 4294967295
Hexadecimal:    5 a A 0x6
Octal:          12 012 04
Floating point
Rounding:       1.500000 2 1.30000000000000004440892098500626
Padding:        01.50 1.50  1.50
Scientific:     1.500000E+00 1.500000e+00
Hexadecimal:    0x1.8p+0 0X1.8P+0

See also

vprintf vfprintf vsprintf vsnprintf (C99)	prints formatted output to stdout, a file stream or a buffer using variable argument list (function)
fputs	writes a character string to a file stream (function)
scanf fscanf sscanf	reads formatted input from stdin, a file stream or a buffer (function)
C++ documentation for printf, fprintf, sprintf, snprintf