1String::Formatter(3)  User Contributed Perl Documentation String::Formatter(3)
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NAME

6       String::Formatter - build sprintf-like functions of your own
7

VERSION

9       version 1.235
10

SYNOPSIS

12         use String::Formatter stringf => {
13           -as   => 'str_rf',
14           codes => {
15             f => sub { $_ },
16             b => sub { scalar reverse $_ },
17             o => 'Okay?',
18           },
19         };
20
21         print str_rf('This is %10f and this is %-15b, %o', 'forward', 'backward');
22
23       ...prints...
24
25         This is    forward and this is drawkcab       , okay?
26

DESCRIPTION

28       String::Formatter is a tool for building sprintf-like formatting
29       routines.  It supports named or positional formatting, custom
30       conversions, fixed string interpolation, and simple width-matching out
31       of the box.  It is easy to alter its behavior to write new kinds of
32       format string expanders.  For most cases, it should be easy to build
33       all sorts of formatters out of the options built into
34       String::Formatter.
35
36       Normally, String::Formatter will be used to import a sprintf-like
37       routine referred to as ""stringf"", but which can be given any name you
38       like.  This routine acts like sprintf in that it takes a string and
39       some inputs and returns a new string:
40
41         my $output = stringf "Some %a format %s for you to %u.\n", { ... };
42
43       This routine is actually a wrapper around a String::Formatter object
44       created by importing stringf.  In the following code, the entire
45       hashref after "stringf" is passed to String::Formatter's constructor
46       (the "new" method), save for the "-as" key and any other keys that
47       start with a dash.
48
49         use String::Formatter
50           stringf => {
51             -as => 'fmt_time',
52             codes           => { ... },
53             format_hunker   => ...,
54             input_processor => ...,
55           },
56           stringf => {
57             -as => 'fmt_date',
58             codes           => { ... },
59             string_replacer => ...,
60             hunk_formatter  => ...,
61           },
62         ;
63
64       As you can see, this will generate two stringf routines, with different
65       behaviors, which are installed with different names.  Since the
66       behavior of these routines is based on the "format" method of a
67       String::Formatter object, the rest of the documentation will describe
68       the way the object behaves.
69
70       There's also a "named_stringf" export, which behaves just like the
71       "stringf" export, but defaults to the "named_replace" and
72       "require_named_input" arguments.  There's a "method_stringf" export,
73       which defaults "method_replace" and "require_single_input".  Finally, a
74       "indexed_stringf", which defaults to "indexed_replaced" and
75       "require_arrayref_input".  For more on these, keep reading, and check
76       out the cookbook.
77
78       String::Formatter::Cookbook provides a number of recipes for ways to
79       put String::Formatter to use.
80

PERL VERSION

82       This library should run on perls released even a long time ago.  It
83       should work on any version of perl released in the last five years.
84
85       Although it may work on older versions of perl, no guarantee is made
86       that the minimum required version will not be increased.  The version
87       may be increased for any reason, and there is no promise that patches
88       will be accepted to lower the minimum required perl.
89

METHODS

91   new
92         my $formatter = String::Formatter->new({
93           codes => { ... },
94           format_hunker   => ...,
95           input_processor => ...,
96           string_replacer => ...,
97           hunk_formatter  => ...,
98         });
99
100       This returns a new formatter.  The "codes" argument contains the
101       formatting codes for the formatter in the form:
102
103         codes => {
104           s => 'fixed string',
105           S => 'different string',
106           c => sub { ... },
107         }
108
109       Code values (or "conversions") should either be strings or coderefs.
110       This hashref can be accessed later with the "codes" method.
111
112       The other four arguments change how the formatting occurs.  Formatting
113       happens in five phases:
114
115       1.  format_hunker - format string is broken down into fixed and %-code
116           hunks
117
118       2.  input_processor - the other inputs are validated and processed
119
120       3.  string_replacer - replacement strings are generated by using
121           conversions
122
123       4.  hunk_formatter - replacement strings in hunks are formatted
124
125       5.  all hunks, now strings, are recombined; this phase is just "join"
126
127       The defaults are found by calling "default_WHATEVER" for each helper
128       that isn't given.  Values must be either strings (which are interpreted
129       as method names) or coderefs.  The semantics for each method are
130       described in the methods' sections, below.
131
132   format
133         my $result = $formatter->format( $format_string, @input );
134
135         print $formatter->format("My %h is full of %e.\n", 'hovercraft', 'eels');
136
137       This does the actual formatting, calling the methods described above,
138       under "new" and returning the result.
139
140   format_hunker
141       Format hunkers are passed strings and return arrayrefs containing
142       strings (for fixed content) and hashrefs (for formatting code
143       sections).
144
145       The hashref hunks should contain at least two entries:  "conversion"
146       for the conversion code (the s, d, or u in %s, %d, or %u); and
147       "literal" for the complete original text of the hunk.  For example, a
148       bare minimum hunker should turn the following:
149
150         I would like to buy %d %s today.
151
152       ...into...
153
154         [
155           'I would like to buy ',
156           { conversion => 'd', literal => '%d' },
157           ' ',
158           { conversion => 's', literal => '%d' },
159           ' today.',
160         ]
161
162       Another common entry is "argument".  In the format strings expected by
163       "hunk_simply", for example, these are free strings inside of curly
164       braces.  These are used extensively other existing helpers for things
165       liked accessing named arguments or providing method names.
166
167   hunk_simply
168       This is the default format hunker.  It implements the format string
169       semantics described above.
170
171       This hunker will produce "argument" and "conversion" and "literal".
172       Its other entries are not yet well-defined for public consumption.
173
174   input_processor
175       The input processor is responsible for inspecting the post-format-
176       string arguments, validating them, and returning them in a possibly-
177       transformed form.  The processor is passed an arrayref containing the
178       arguments and should return a scalar value to be used as the input
179       going forward.
180
181   return_input
182       This input processor, the default, simply returns the input it was
183       given with no validation or transformation.
184
185   require_named_input
186       This input processor will raise an exception unless there is exactly
187       one post-format-string argument to the format call, and unless that
188       argument is a hashref.  It will also replace the arrayref with the
189       given hashref so subsequent phases of the format can avoid lots of
190       needless array dereferencing.
191
192   require_arrayref_input
193       This input processor will raise an exception unless there is exactly
194       one post-format-string argument to the format call, and unless that
195       argument is a arrayref.  It will also replace the input with that
196       single arrayref it found so subsequent phases of the format can avoid
197       lots of needless array dereferencing.
198
199   require_single_input
200       This input processor will raise an exception if more than one input is
201       given.  After input processing, the single element in the input will be
202       used as the input itself.
203
204   forbid_input
205       This input processor will raise an exception if any input is given.  In
206       other words, formatters with this input processor accept format strings
207       and nothing else.
208
209   string_replacer
210       The string_replacer phase is responsible for adding a "replacement"
211       entry to format code hunks.  This should be a string-value entry that
212       will be formatted and concatenated into the output string.  String
213       replacers can also replace the whole hunk with a string to avoid any
214       subsequent formatting.
215
216   positional_replace
217       This replacer matches inputs to the hunk's position in the format
218       string.  This is the default replacer, used in the synopsis, above,
219       which should make its behavior clear.  At present, fixed-string
220       conversions do not affect the position of arg matched, meaning that
221       given the following:
222
223         my $formatter = String::Formatter->new({
224           codes => {
225             f => 'fixed string',
226             s => sub { ... },
227           }
228         });
229
230         $formatter->format("%s %f %s", 1, 2);
231
232       The subroutine is called twice, once for the input 1 and once for the
233       input 2.  This behavior may change after some more experimental use.
234
235   named_replace
236       This replacer should be used with the "require_named_input" input
237       processor.  It expects the input to be a hashref and it finds values to
238       be interpolated by looking in the hashref for the brace-enclosed name
239       on each format code.  Here's an example use:
240
241         $formatter->format("This was the %{adj}s day in %{num}d weeks.", {
242           adj => 'best',
243           num => 6,
244         });
245
246   indexed_replace
247       This replacer should be used with the "require_arrayref_input" input
248       processor.  It expects the input to be an arrayref and it finds values
249       to be interpolated by looking in the arrayref for the brace-enclosed
250       index on each format code.  Here's an example use:
251
252         $formatter->format("This was the %{1}s day in %{0}d weeks.", [ 6, 'best' ]);
253
254   method_replace
255       This string replacer method expects the input to be a single value on
256       which methods can be called.  If a value was given in braces to the
257       format code, it is passed as an argument.
258
259   keyed_replace
260       This string replacer method expects the input to be a single hashref.
261       Coderef code values are used as callbacks, but strings are used as hash
262       keys.  If a value was given in braces to the format code, it is
263       ignored.
264
265       For example if the codes contain "i => 'ident'" then %i in the format
266       string will be replaced with "$input->{ident}" in the output.
267
268   hunk_formatter
269       The hunk_formatter processes each the hashref hunks left after string
270       replacement and returns a string.  When it is called, it is passed a
271       hunk hashref and must return a string.
272
273   format_simply
274       This is the default hunk formatter.  It deals with minimum and maximum
275       width cues as well as left and right alignment.  Beyond that, it does
276       no formatting of the replacement string.
277

FORMAT STRINGS

279       Format strings are generally assumed to look like Perl's sprintf's
280       format strings:
281
282         There's a bunch of normal strings and then %s format %1.4c with %% signs.
283
284       The exact semantics of the format codes are not totally settled yet --
285       and they can be replaced on a per-formatter basis.  Right now, they're
286       mostly a subset of Perl's astonishingly large and complex system.  That
287       subset looks like this:
288
289         %    - a percent sign to begin the format
290         ...  - (optional) various modifiers to the format like "-5" or "#" or "2$"
291         {..} - (optional) a string inside braces
292         s    - a short string (usually one character) identifying the conversion
293
294       Not all format modifiers found in Perl's "sprintf" are yet supported.
295       Currently the only format modifiers must match:
296
297           (-)?          # left-align, rather than right
298           (\d*)?        # (optional) minimum field width
299           (?:\.(\d*))?  # (optional) maximum field width
300
301       Some additional format semantics may be added, but probably nothing
302       exotic.  Even things like "2$" and "*" are probably not going to appear
303       in String::Formatter's default behavior.
304
305       Another subtle difference, introduced intentionally, is in the handling
306       of "%%".  With the default String::Formatter behavior, string "%%" is
307       not interpreted as a formatting code.  This is different from the
308       behavior of Perl's "sprintf", which interprets it as a special
309       formatting character that doesn't consume input and always acts like
310       the fixed string "%".  The upshot of this is:
311
312         sprintf "%%";   # ==> returns "%"
313         stringf "%%";   # ==> returns "%%"
314
315         sprintf "%10%"; # ==> returns "         %"
316         stringf "%10%"; # ==> dies: unknown format code %
317

HISTORY

319       String::Formatter is based on String::Format, written by Darren
320       Chamberlain.  For a history of the code, check the project's source
321       code repository.  All bugs should be reported to Ricardo Signes and
322       String::Formatter.  Very little of the original code remains.
323

AUTHORS

325       •   Ricardo Signes <cpan@semiotic.systems>
326
327       •   Darren Chamberlain <darren@cpan.org>
328

CONTRIBUTORS

330       •   Darren Chamberlain <dlc@sevenroot.org>
331
332       •   David Steinbrunner <dsteinbrunner@pobox.com>
333
334       •   dlc <dlc>
335
336       •   Ricardo Signes <rjbs@semiotic.systems>
337
339       This software is Copyright (c) 2022 by Ricardo Signes
340       <cpan@semiotic.systems>.
341
342       This is free software, licensed under:
343
344         The GNU General Public License, Version 2, June 1991
345
346
347
348perl v5.38.0                      2023-07-21              String::Formatter(3)
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