The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6
IEEE Std 1003.1, 2004 Edition
Copyright © 2001-2004 The IEEE and The Open Group, All Rights reserved.
A newer edition of this document exists here

NAME

fwprintf, swprintf, wprintf - print formatted wide-character output

SYNOPSIS

#include <stdio.h>
#include <wchar.h>

int fwprintf(FILE *restrict
stream, const wchar_t *restrict format, ...);
int swprintf(wchar_t *restrict
ws, size_t n,
       const wchar_t *restrict
format, ...);
int wprintf(const wchar_t *restrict
format, ...);

DESCRIPTION

[CX] [Option Start] The functionality described on this reference page is aligned with the ISO C standard. Any conflict between the requirements described here and the ISO C standard is unintentional. This volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 defers to the ISO C standard. [Option End]

The fwprintf() function shall place output on the named output stream. The wprintf() function shall place output on the standard output stream stdout. The swprintf() function shall place output followed by the null wide character in consecutive wide characters starting at *ws; no more than n wide characters shall be written, including a terminating null wide character, which is always added (unless n is zero).

Each of these functions shall convert, format, and print its arguments under control of the format wide-character string. The format is composed of zero or more directives: ordinary wide-characters, which are simply copied to the output stream, and conversion specifications, each of which results in the fetching of zero or more arguments. The results are undefined if there are insufficient arguments for the format. If the format is exhausted while arguments remain, the excess arguments are evaluated but are otherwise ignored.

[XSI] [Option Start] Conversions can be applied to the nth argument after the format in the argument list, rather than to the next unused argument. In this case, the conversion specifier wide character % (see below) is replaced by the sequence "%n$", where n is a decimal integer in the range [1,{NL_ARGMAX}], giving the position of the argument in the argument list. This feature provides for the definition of format wide-character strings that select arguments in an order appropriate to specific languages (see the EXAMPLES section).

The format can contain either numbered argument specifications (that is, "%n$" and "*m$"), or unnumbered argument conversion specifications (that is, % and * ), but not both. The only exception to this is that %% can be mixed with the "%n$" form. The results of mixing numbered and unnumbered argument specifications in a format wide-character string are undefined. When numbered argument specifications are used, specifying the Nth argument requires that all the leading arguments, from the first to the (N-1)th, are specified in the format wide-character string.

In format wide-character strings containing the "%n$" form of conversion specification, numbered arguments in the argument list can be referenced from the format wide-character string as many times as required. [Option End]

In format wide-character strings containing the % form of conversion specification, each argument in the argument list shall be used exactly once.

[CX] [Option Start] All forms of the fwprintf() function allow for the insertion of a locale-dependent radix character in the output string, output as a wide-character value. The radix character is defined in the program's locale (category LC_NUMERIC ). In the POSIX locale, or in a locale where the radix character is not defined, the radix character shall default to a period ( '.' ). [Option End]

Each conversion specification is introduced by the '%' wide character [XSI] [Option Start]  or by the wide-character sequence "%n$", [Option End]  after which the following appear in sequence:

A field width, or precision, or both, may be indicated by an asterisk ( '*' ). In this case an argument of type int supplies the field width or precision. Applications shall ensure that arguments specifying field width, or precision, or both appear in that order before the argument, if any, to be converted. A negative field width is taken as a '-' flag followed by a positive field width. A negative precision is taken as if the precision were omitted. [XSI] [Option Start]  In format wide-character strings containing the "%n$" form of a conversion specification, a field width or precision may be indicated by the sequence "*m$", where m is a decimal integer in the range [1,{NL_ARGMAX}] giving the position in the argument list (after the format argument) of an integer argument containing the field width or precision, for example:

wprintf(L"%1$d:%2$.*3$d:%4$.*3$d\n", hour, min, precision, sec); [Option End]

The flag wide characters and their meanings are:

'
[XSI] [Option Start] The integer portion of the result of a decimal conversion ( %i, %d, %u, %f, %F, %g, or %G ) shall be formatted with thousands' grouping wide characters. For other conversions, the behavior is undefined. The numeric grouping wide character is used. [Option End]
-
The result of the conversion shall be left-justified within the field. The conversion shall be right-justified if this flag is not specified.
+
The result of a signed conversion shall always begin with a sign ( '+' or '-' ). The conversion shall begin with a sign only when a negative value is converted if this flag is not specified.
<space>
If the first wide character of a signed conversion is not a sign, or if a signed conversion results in no wide characters, a <space> shall be prefixed to the result. This means that if the <space> and '+' flags both appear, the <space> flag shall be ignored.
#
Specifies that the value is to be converted to an alternative form. For o conversion, it increases the precision (if necessary) to force the first digit of the result to be 0. For x or X conversion specifiers, a non-zero result shall have 0x (or 0X) prefixed to it. For a, A, e, E, f, F, g , and G conversion specifiers, the result shall always contain a radix character, even if no digits follow it. Without this flag, a radix character appears in the result of these conversions only if a digit follows it. For g and G conversion specifiers, trailing zeros shall not be removed from the result as they normally are. For other conversion specifiers, the behavior is undefined.
0
For d, i, o, u, x, X, a, A, e, E, f, F, g, and G conversion specifiers, leading zeros (following any indication of sign or base) are used to pad to the field width; no space padding is performed. If the '0' and '-' flags both appear, the '0' flag shall be ignored. For d, i, o, u, x, and X conversion specifiers, if a precision is specified, the '0' flag shall be ignored. If the '0' and '" flags both appear, the grouping wide characters are inserted before zero padding. For other conversions, the behavior is undefined.

The length modifiers and their meanings are:

hh
Specifies that a following d, i, o, u, x, or X conversion specifier applies to a signed char or unsigned char argument (the argument will have been promoted according to the integer promotions, but its value shall be converted to signed char or unsigned char before printing); or that a following n conversion specifier applies to a pointer to a signed char argument.
h
Specifies that a following d, i, o, u, x, or X conversion specifier applies to a short or unsigned short argument (the argument will have been promoted according to the integer promotions, but its value shall be converted to short or unsigned short before printing); or that a following n conversion specifier applies to a pointer to a short argument.
l (ell)
Specifies that a following d, i, o, u, x, or X conversion specifier applies to a long or unsigned long argument; that a following n conversion specifier applies to a pointer to a long argument; that a following c conversion specifier applies to a wint_t argument; that a following s conversion specifier applies to a pointer to a wchar_t argument; or has no effect on a following a, A, e, E, f, F, g, or G conversion specifier.
ll (ell-ell)
Specifies that a following d, i, o, u, x, or X conversion specifier applies to a long long or unsigned long long argument; or that a following n conversion specifier applies to a pointer to a long long argument.
j
Specifies that a following d, i, o, u, x, or X conversion specifier applies to an intmax_t or uintmax_t argument; or that a following n conversion specifier applies to a pointer to an intmax_t argument.
z
Specifies that a following d, i, o, u, x, or X conversion specifier applies to a size_t or the corresponding signed integer type argument; or that a following n conversion specifier applies to a pointer to a signed integer type corresponding to a size_t argument.
t
Specifies that a following d, i, o, u, x, or X conversion specifier applies to a ptrdiff_t or the corresponding unsigned type argument; or that a following n conversion specifier applies to a pointer to a ptrdiff_t argument.
L
Specifies that a following a, A, e, E, f, F, g, or G conversion specifier applies to a long double argument.

If a length modifier appears with any conversion specifier other than as specified above, the behavior is undefined.

The conversion specifiers and their meanings are:

di
The int argument shall be converted to a signed decimal in the style "[-]dddd". The precision specifies the minimum number of digits to appear; if the value being converted can be represented in fewer digits, it shall be expanded with leading zeros. The default precision shall be 1. The result of converting zero with an explicit precision of zero shall be no wide characters.
o
The unsigned argument shall be converted to unsigned octal format in the style "dddd". The precision specifies the minimum number of digits to appear; if the value being converted can be represented in fewer digits, it shall be expanded with leading zeros. The default precision shall be 1. The result of converting zero with an explicit precision of zero shall be no wide characters.
u
The unsigned argument shall be converted to unsigned decimal format in the style "dddd". The precision specifies the minimum number of digits to appear; if the value being converted can be represented in fewer digits, it shall be expanded with leading zeros. The default precision shall be 1. The result of converting zero with an explicit precision of zero shall be no wide characters.
x
The unsigned argument shall be converted to unsigned hexadecimal format in the style "dddd" ; the letters "abcdef" are used. The precision specifies the minimum number of digits to appear; if the value being converted can be represented in fewer digits, it shall be expanded with leading zeros. The default precision shall be 1. The result of converting zero with an explicit precision of zero shall be no wide characters.
X
Equivalent to the x conversion specifier, except that letters "ABCDEF" are used instead of "abcdef" .
fF
The double argument shall be converted to decimal notation in the style "[-]ddd.ddd", where the number of digits after the radix character shall be equal to the precision specification. If the precision is missing, it shall be taken as 6; if the precision is explicitly zero and no '#' flag is present, no radix character shall appear. If a radix character appears, at least one digit shall appear before it. The value shall be rounded in an implementation-defined manner to the appropriate number of digits.

A double argument representing an infinity shall be converted in one of the styles "[-]inf" or "[-]infinity" ; which style is implementation-defined. A double argument representing a NaN shall be converted in one of the styles "[-]nan" or "[-]nan(n-char-sequence)"; which style, and the meaning of any n-char-sequence, is implementation-defined. The F conversion specifier produces "INF", "INFINITY", or "NAN" instead of "inf", "infinity", or "nan", respectively.

eE
The double argument shall be converted in the style "[-]d.ddde±dd", where there shall be one digit before the radix character (which is non-zero if the argument is non-zero) and the number of digits after it shall be equal to the precision; if the precision is missing, it shall be taken as 6; if the precision is zero and no '#' flag is present, no radix character shall appear. The value shall be rounded in an implementation-defined manner to the appropriate number of digits. The E conversion wide character shall produce a number with 'E' instead of 'e' introducing the exponent. The exponent shall always contain at least two digits. If the value is zero, the exponent shall be zero.

A double argument representing an infinity or NaN shall be converted in the style of an f or F conversion specifier.

gG
The double argument shall be converted in the style f or e (or in the style F or E in the case of a G conversion specifier), with the precision specifying the number of significant digits. If an explicit precision is zero, it shall be taken as 1. The style used depends on the value converted; style e (or E ) shall be used only if the exponent resulting from such a conversion is less than -4 or greater than or equal to the precision. Trailing zeros shall be removed from the fractional portion of the result; a radix character shall appear only if it is followed by a digit.

A double argument representing an infinity or NaN shall be converted in the style of an f or F conversion specifier.

aA
A double argument representing a floating-point number shall be converted in the style "[-]0xh.hhhhp±d", where there shall be one hexadecimal digit (which is non-zero if the argument is a normalized floating-point number and is otherwise unspecified) before the decimal-point wide character and the number of hexadecimal digits after it shall be equal to the precision; if the precision is missing and FLT_RADIX is a power of 2, then the precision shall be sufficient for an exact representation of the value; if the precision is missing and FLT_RADIX is not a power of 2, then the precision shall be sufficient to distinguish values of type double, except that trailing zeros may be omitted; if the precision is zero and the '#' flag is not specified, no decimal-point wide character shall appear. The letters "abcdef" are used for a conversion and the letters "ABCDEF" for A conversion. The A conversion specifier produces a number with 'X' and 'P' instead of 'x' and 'p'. The exponent shall always contain at least one digit, and only as many more digits as necessary to represent the decimal exponent of 2. If the value is zero, the exponent shall be zero.

A double argument representing an infinity or NaN shall be converted in the style of an f or F conversion specifier.

c
If no l (ell) qualifier is present, the int argument shall be converted to a wide character as if by calling the btowc() function and the resulting wide character shall be written. Otherwise, the wint_t argument shall be converted to wchar_t, and written.
s
If no l (ell) qualifier is present, the application shall ensure that the argument is a pointer to a character array containing a character sequence beginning in the initial shift state. Characters from the array shall be converted as if by repeated calls to the mbrtowc() function, with the conversion state described by an mbstate_t object initialized to zero before the first character is converted, and written up to (but not including) the terminating null wide character. If the precision is specified, no more than that many wide characters shall be written. If the precision is not specified, or is greater than the size of the array, the application shall ensure that the array contains a null wide character.

If an l (ell) qualifier is present, the application shall ensure that the argument is a pointer to an array of type wchar_t. Wide characters from the array shall be written up to (but not including) a terminating null wide character. If no precision is specified, or is greater than the size of the array, the application shall ensure that the array contains a null wide character. If a precision is specified, no more than that many wide characters shall be written.

p
The application shall ensure that the argument is a pointer to void. The value of the pointer shall be converted to a sequence of printable wide characters in an implementation-defined manner.
n
The application shall ensure that the argument is a pointer to an integer into which is written the number of wide characters written to the output so far by this call to one of the fwprintf() functions. No argument shall be converted, but one shall be consumed. If the conversion specification includes any flags, a field width, or a precision, the behavior is undefined.
C
[XSI] [Option Start] Equivalent to lc. [Option End]
S
[XSI] [Option Start] Equivalent to ls. [Option End]
%
Output a '%' wide character; no argument shall be converted. The entire conversion specification shall be %% .

If a conversion specification does not match one of the above forms, the behavior is undefined.

In no case does a nonexistent or small field width cause truncation of a field; if the result of a conversion is wider than the field width, the field shall be expanded to contain the conversion result. Characters generated by fwprintf() and wprintf() shall be printed as if fputwc() had been called.

For a and A conversions, if FLT_RADIX is not a power of 2 and the result is not exactly representable in the given precision, the result should be one of the two adjacent numbers in hexadecimal floating style with the given precision, with the extra stipulation that the error should have a correct sign for the current rounding direction.

For e, E, f, F, g, and G conversion specifiers, if the number of significant decimal digits is at most DECIMAL_DIG, then the result should be correctly rounded. If the number of significant decimal digits is more than DECIMAL_DIG but the source value is exactly representable with DECIMAL_DIG digits, then the result should be an exact representation with trailing zeros. Otherwise, the source value is bounded by two adjacent decimal strings L < U, both having DECIMAL_DIG significant digits; the value of the resultant decimal string D should satisfy L <= D <= U, with the extra stipulation that the error should have a correct sign for the current rounding direction.

[CX] [Option Start] The st_ctime and st_mtime fields of the file shall be marked for update between the call to a successful execution of fwprintf() or wprintf() and the next successful completion of a call to fflush() or fclose() on the same stream, or a call to exit() or abort(). [Option End]

RETURN VALUE

Upon successful completion, these functions shall return the number of wide characters transmitted, excluding the terminating null wide character in the case of swprintf(), or a negative value if an output error was encountered, [CX] [Option Start]  and set errno to indicate the error. [Option End]

If n or more wide characters were requested to be written, swprintf() shall return a negative value, [CX] [Option Start]  and set errno to indicate the error. [Option End]

ERRORS

For the conditions under which fwprintf() and wprintf() fail and may fail, refer to fputwc().

In addition, all forms of fwprintf() may fail if:

[EILSEQ]
[XSI] [Option Start] A wide-character code that does not correspond to a valid character has been detected. [Option End]
[EINVAL]
[XSI] [Option Start] There are insufficient arguments. [Option End]

In addition, wprintf() and fwprintf() may fail if:

[ENOMEM]
[XSI] [Option Start] Insufficient storage space is available. [Option End]

The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

To print the language-independent date and time format, the following statement could be used:

wprintf(format, weekday, month, day, hour, min);

For American usage, format could be a pointer to the wide-character string:

L"%s, %s %d, %d:%.2d\n"

producing the message:

Sunday, July 3, 10:02

whereas for German usage, format could be a pointer to the wide-character string:

L"%1$s, %3$d. %2$s, %4$d:%5$.2d\n"

producing the message:

Sonntag, 3. Juli, 10:02

APPLICATION USAGE

None.

RATIONALE

None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

SEE ALSO

btowc(), fputwc(), fwscanf(), mbrtowc(), setlocale() , the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Chapter 7, Locale, <stdio.h>, <wchar.h>

CHANGE HISTORY

First released in Issue 5. Included for alignment with ISO/IEC 9899:1990/Amendment 1:1995 (E).

Issue 6

The Open Group Corrigendum U040/1 is applied to the RETURN VALUE section, describing the case if n or more wide characters are requested to be written using swprintf().

The DESCRIPTION is updated to avoid use of the term "must" for application requirements.

The following changes are made for alignment with the ISO/IEC 9899:1999 standard:

The DESCRIPTION is updated to use the terms "conversion specifier" and "conversion specification" consistently.

ISO/IEC 9899:1999 standard, Technical Corrigendum 1 is incorporated.

End of informative text.

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