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From: Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: Tabs As Syntax
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2024 23:36:38 -0000 (UTC)
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On Fri, 22 Mar 2024 08:20:11 -0400, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:

> operator << is useful with std::ostringstream when you want to avoid
> having deal with allocating enough output space. Still, I use this a
> lot:
> 
>     char temp[32];
>     snprintf(temp, sizeof temp, "We have %d idiots here", idcount);
> 
> Sometime a printf specification is just easier to read.

I wrote this a long time ago, for use in some projects in C++. You can
tell it was a long time ago, from the checking for glibc versions:

std::string string_printf
  (
    const char * Format,
    ...
  )
  /* does an sprintf of its remaining arguments according to Format,
    returning the formatted result. */
  {
    std::string Result;
    char * TempBuf;
    ulong TempBufSize;
    TempBuf = nil;
    TempBufSize = 128; /* something reasonable to begin with */
    for (;;)
      {
        TempBuf = (char *)malloc(TempBufSize);
        if (TempBuf == nil)
            break;
        va_list Args;
        va_start(Args, Format);
        const long BufSizeNeeded = vsnprintf(TempBuf, TempBufSize, Format, Args);
          /* not including trailing null */
        va_end(Args);
        if (BufSizeNeeded >= 0 and BufSizeNeeded < TempBufSize)
          {
          /* the whole thing did fit */
            TempBufSize = BufSizeNeeded; /* not including trailing null */
            break;
          } /*if*/
        free(TempBuf);
        if (BufSizeNeeded < 0)
          {
          /* glibc < 2.1 */
            TempBufSize *= 2; /* try something bigger */
          }
        else
          {
          /* glibc >= 2.1 */
            TempBufSize = BufSizeNeeded + 1;
              /* now I know how much I need, including trailing null */
          } /*if*/
      } /*for*/
    if (TempBuf != nil)
      {
        Result.append(TempBuf, TempBufSize);
        free(TempBuf);
      } /*if*/
    return
        Result;
  } /*string_printf*/