Type Function Library string.* Return value String Revision Release 2022.3683 Keywords string, format See also String
Returns a formatted string following the description given in its arguments.
For more information, see the string.format() section here.
This function allows you to use the same formatstring options in C and C++ (information).
string.format( formatstring [, ...] ) formatstring:format( [...] )
String. The string.
String. Optional additional parameters that follow the same rules as the printf family of standard C functions. The only differences are that the options/modifiers *, l, L, n, p, and h are not supported and that there is an extra option, q. The q option formats a string in a form suitable to be safely read back by the Lua interpreter: the string is written between double quotes, and all double quotes, newlines, embedded zeros, and backslashes in the string are correctly escaped when written. The options c, d, E, e, f, g, G, i, o, u, X, and x all expect a number as argument, whereas q and s expect a string. string.format() does not accept string values containing embedded zeros, except as arguments to the q option.
print( string.format( "%6.2f", "1234" ) ) --> maximum of 6 characters left and 2 right of decimal: 1234.00 print( string.format( "%07d", "1234" ) ) --> leading zeros with maximum 7 characters: 0001234 print( string.format( "%s %q", "Hello", "Solar2D user!" ) ) --> string and quoted string print( string.format( "%c%c%c", 76, 117, 97 ) ) --> char: Lua print( string.format( "%e, %E", math.pi, math.pi ) ) --> exponent: 3.141593e+00, 3.141593E+00 print( string.format( "%f, %g", math.pi, math.pi ) ) --> float and compact float: 3.141593, 3.14159 print( string.format( "%d, %i, %u", -100, -10.1, -100 ) ) --> signed, signed, unsigned integer: -100, -10, 0 print( string.format( "%o, %x, %X", 10, 10, 10 ) ) --> octal, hex, hex: 12, a, A