sprintf
(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)
Return a formatted string
Description
Returns a string produced according to the formatting string format.
Parameters
values
Return Values
Returns a string produced according to the formatting string format.
Errors/Exceptions Sprintf
Changelog Sprintf
Examples
Argument swapping
The format string supports argument numbering/swapping.
<?php
$num = 5;
$location = 'tree';
$format = 'There are %d monkeys in the %s';
echo sprintf($format, $num, $location);
?>The above example will output:
There are 5 monkeys in the treeHowever imagine we are creating a format string in a separate file, commonly because we would like to internationalize it and we rewrite it as:
Wrong Argument Order
The format string supports argument numbering/swapping.
<?php
$num = 5;
$location = 'tree';
$format = 'The %s contains %d monkeys';
echo sprintf($format, $num, $location);
?>We now have a problem. The order of the placeholders in the format string does not match the order of the arguments in the code. We would like to leave the code as is and simply indicate in the format string which arguments the placeholders refer to. We would write the format string like this instead:
Use Order Placeholder
<?php
$num = 5;
$location = 'tree';
$format = 'The %2$s contains %1$d monkeys';
echo sprintf($format, $num, $location);
?>An added benefit is that placeholders can be repeated without adding more arguments in the code.
Repeated Placeholder
<?php
$num = 5;
$location = 'tree';
$format = 'The %2$s contains %1$d monkeys.
That\'s a nice %2$s full of %1$d monkeys.';
echo sprintf($format, $num, $location);
?>When using argument swapping, the n$ position specifier must come immediately after the percent sign (%), before any other specifiers, as shown below.
Specifying padding character
<?php
echo sprintf("%'.9d\n", 123);
echo sprintf("%'.09d\n", 123);
?>The above example will output:
......123
000000123Position specifier with other specifiers
<?php
$num = 5;
$location = 'tree';
$format = 'The %2$s contains %1$04d monkeys';
echo sprintf($format, $num, $location);
?>The above example will output:
The tree contains 0005 monkeyssprintf(): zero-padded integers
<?php
$year = 2005;
$month = 5;
$day = 6;
$isodate = sprintf("%04d-%02d-%02d", $year, $month, $day);
echo $isodate, PHP_EOL;
?>sprintf(): formatting currency
<?php
$money1 = 68.75;
$money2 = 54.35;
$money = $money1 + $money2;
echo $money, PHP_EOL;
$formatted = sprintf("%01.2f", $money);
echo $formatted, PHP_EOL;
?>The above example will output:
123.1
123.10sprintf(): scientific notation
<?php
$number = 362525200;
echo sprintf("%.3e", $number), PHP_EOL;
?>The above example will output:
3.625e+8