GNU libasprintf - automatic formatted output to strings

This package makes the C formatted output routines (fprintf et al.) usable

in C++ programs.

Sample use

----------

char *pathname = autosprintf ("%s/%s", directory, filename);

cerr << autosprintf ("syntax error in %s:%d: %s", filename, line, errstring);

Benefits

--------

The benefits of autosprintf over the usual "piecewise meal" idiom

cerr << "syntax error in " << filename << ":" << line << ": " << errstring;

are:

- Reuses of the standard POSIX printf facility. Easy migration from C to C++.

- English sentences are kept together.

- Internationalization requires format strings, because

1. Internationalization requires the ability for the translator to change

the order of parts of a sentence. The POSIX printf formatted output

functions (and thus also autosprintf) support this through the %m$ and

*m$ syntax.

2. Translators are used to translate one string per sentence, not

multiple strings per sentence, and not C++ code statements.

- Reduces the risk of programming errors due to forgotten state in the

output stream (e.g. 'cout << hex;' not followed by 'cout << dec;').

The benefits of autosprintf over C sprintf are:

- Autosprintf avoids buffer overruns and truncated results.

The C sprintf() function often leads to buffer overruns. On the other

hand, the C snprintf() function requires extra coding for an a priori

estimate of the result's size and truncates the result if the estimate

was too low.

- Autosprintf avoids memory leaks.

Temporarily allocated memory is cleaned up automatically.

Installation

------------

See INSTALL. Usually "./configure; make; make install" should work.

The installed files are:

- An include file "autosprintf.h" which defines the class 'autosprintf',

in the namespace 'gnu'.

- A library libasprintf containing this class.

Use

---

To use the class autosprintf, use

#include "autosprintf.h"

using gnu::autosprintf;

and link with the linker option

-lasprintf

Misc notes

----------

An instance of class 'autosprintf' contains the formatted output result;

this string is freed when the instance's destructor is run.

The class name 'autosprintf' is meant to remind the C function sprintf(),

the GNU C library function asprintf(), and the C++ autoptr programming idiom.

Distribution

------------

https://haible.de/bruno/gnu/libasprintf-1.0.tar.gz

Homepage

--------

https://haible.de/bruno/packages-libasprintf.html

Bug reports

-----------

Report bugs

- in the bug tracker at <https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gettext>

- or by email to <bug-gettext@gnu.org>.

Bruno Haible <brunoe@clisp.org>