WoW:API format
← WoW Lua
Creates a formatted string from format and substitution parameters, similar to sprintf in C.
local s = string.format(formatstring, e1, e2, ...) local s = format(formatstring, e1, e2, ...)
Parameters
- formatstring - the format string
- ... - list of substitutions of any relevant type
Returns
- formatted string
Details
Create a formatted string from the format and arguments provided. This is similar to the printf("format",...) function in C. An additional option %q returns string in a format that can safely be read back by Lua interpreter (puts quotes around a string and escapes special characters), but used by World of Warcraft to preparse all strings before saving them between sessions. Lua supports the following subset of the C format specifiers, plus Lua specific 'q'
Substitution escapes
- c, d, E, e, f, g, G, i, o, u, X, x (expect a number as argument)
- q, s (expect a string as argument)
- % (escape char, to produce % use %%)
Examples
String and quoted string
string.format("%s %q", "Hello", "Lua user!")
Hello "Lua user!"
Char
string.format("%c%c%c", 76,117,97)
Lua
Exponent
string.format("%e, %E", math.pi, math.pi)
3.141593e+000, 3.141593E+000
Float and compact float
string.format("%f, %g, %.2f", math.pi, math.pi, math.pi)
3.141593, 3.14159, 3.14
Signed, signed, unsigned integer
string.format("%d, %i, %u", -100,-100,-100)
-100, -100, 4294967196
Octal, hex, hex
string.format("%o, %x, %X", -100,-100,-100)
37777777634, ffffff9c, FFFFFF9C
Note: if you want a % character to be output as part of your format string, you need to enter %%
string.format("Ratio is %u %%",12)
Ratio is 12 %
Macro Example
This macro prints out the time remaining on the Polymorph debuff in seconds, rounded to the nearest whole number:
/run for i=1,40 do local n,_,_,_,_,_,x,_,_=UnitDebuff("focus",i);if (n=="Polymorph")or (n=="Polymorph(Pig)")or (n=="Polymorph(Turtle)")then SendChatMessage(format("%.0f",-1*(GetTime()-x)).." secs left on "..UnitName("focus").."'s CC!","EMOTE");end end
External links
- Lua string reference - https://www.lua.org/pil/20.html
- GCC printf format - http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/manual/html_node/Formatted-Output.html#Formatted-Output