fmt/doc/index.rst
2018-05-13 12:42:55 -07:00

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Overview
========
**fmt** (formerly cppformat) is an open-source formatting library.
It can be used as a safe alternative to printf or as a fast
alternative to C++ IOStreams.
.. raw:: html
<div class="panel panel-default">
<div class="panel-heading">What users say:</div>
<div class="panel-body">
Thanks for creating this library. Its been a hole in C++ for a long
time. Ive used both boost::format and loki::SPrintf, and neither felt
like the right answer. This does.
</div>
</div>
.. _format-api-intro:
Format API
----------
The replacement-based Format API provides a safe alternative to ``printf``,
``sprintf`` and friends with comparable or `better performance
<http://zverovich.net/2013/09/07/integer-to-string-conversion-in-cplusplus.html>`_.
The `format string syntax <syntax.html>`_ is similar to the one used by
`str.format <http://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#str.format>`_
in Python:
.. code:: c++
fmt::format("The answer is {}", 42);
The ``fmt::format`` function returns a string "The answer is 42". You can use
``fmt::memory_buffer`` to avoid constructing ``std::string``:
.. code:: c++
fmt::memory_buffer out;
format_to(out, "For a moment, {} happened.", "nothing");
out.data(); // returns a pointer to the formatted data
The ``fmt::print`` function performs formatting and writes the result to a file:
.. code:: c++
fmt::print(stderr, "System error code = {}\n", errno);
The file argument can be omitted in which case the function prints to
``stdout``:
.. code:: c++
fmt::print("Don't {}\n", "panic");
The Format API also supports positional arguments useful for localization:
.. code:: c++
fmt::print("I'd rather be {1} than {0}.", "right", "happy");
Named arguments can be created with ``fmt::arg``. This makes it easier to track
what goes where when multiple values are being inserted:
.. code:: c++
fmt::print("Hello, {name}! The answer is {number}. Goodbye, {name}.",
fmt::arg("name", "World"), fmt::arg("number", 42));
If your compiler supports C++11 user-defined literals, the suffix ``_a`` offers
an alternative, slightly terser syntax for named arguments:
.. code:: c++
fmt::print("Hello, {name}! The answer is {number}. Goodbye, {name}.",
"name"_a="World", "number"_a=42);
The ``_format`` suffix may be used to format string literals similar to Python:
.. code:: c++
std::string message = "{0}{1}{0}"_format("abra", "cad");
Other than the placement of the format string on the left of the operator,
``_format`` is functionally identical to ``fmt::format``. In order to use the
literal operators, they must be made visible with the directive
``using namespace fmt::literals;``. Note that this brings in only ``_a`` and
``_format`` but nothing else from the ``fmt`` namespace.
.. _safety:
Safety
------
The library is fully type safe, automatic memory management prevents buffer
overflow, errors in format strings are reported using exceptions. For example,
the code
.. code:: c++
fmt::format("The answer is {:d}", "forty-two");
throws a ``format_error`` exception with description
"unknown format code 'd' for string", because the argument
``"forty-two"`` is a string while the format code ``d``
only applies to integers.
Where possible, errors are caught at compile time. For example, the code
.. code:: c++
fmt::format("Cyrillic letter {}", L'\x42e');
produces a compile-time error because wide character ``L'\x42e'`` cannot be
formatted into a narrow string. You can use a wide format string instead:
.. code:: c++
fmt::format(L"Cyrillic letter {}", L'\x42e');
For comparison, writing a wide character to ``std::ostream`` results in
its numeric value being written to the stream (i.e. 1070 instead of letter 'ю'
which is represented by ``L'\x42e'`` if we use Unicode) which is rarely what is
needed.
Note that fmt does not use the value of the ``errno`` global to communicate
errors to the user, but it may call system functions which set ``errno``. Since
fmt does not attempt to preserve the value of ``errno``, users should not make
any assumptions about it and always set it to ``0`` before making any system
calls that convey error information via ``errno``.
Compact binary code
-------------------
Each call to a formatting function results in a compact binary code. For example
(`godbolt <https://godbolt.org/g/TZU4KF>`_),
.. code:: c++
#include <fmt/core.h>
int main() {
fmt::print("The answer is {}.", 42);
}
compiles to just
.. code:: asm
main: # @main
sub rsp, 24
mov qword ptr [rsp], 42
mov rcx, rsp
mov edi, offset .L.str
mov esi, 17
mov edx, 2
call fmt::v5::vprint(fmt::v5::basic_string_view<char>, fmt::v5::format_args)
xor eax, eax
add rsp, 24
ret
.L.str:
.asciz "The answer is {}."
.. _portability:
Portability
-----------
The library is highly portable. Here is an incomplete list of operating systems
and compilers where it has been tested and known to work:
* 64-bit (amd64) GNU/Linux with GCC 4.4.3,
`4.6.3 <https://travis-ci.org/fmtlib/fmt>`_, 4.7.2, 4.8.1, and Intel C++
Compiler (ICC) 14.0.2
* 32-bit (i386) GNU/Linux with GCC 4.4.3, 4.6.3
* Mac OS X with GCC 4.2.1 and Clang 4.2, 5.1.0
* 64-bit Windows with Visual C++ 2010, 2013 and
`2015 <https://ci.appveyor.com/project/vitaut/fmt>`_
* 32-bit Windows with Visual C++ 2010
Although the library uses C++11 features when available, it also works with
older compilers and standard library implementations. The only thing to keep in
mind for C++98 portability:
* Variadic templates: minimum GCC 4.4, Clang 2.9 or VS2013. This feature allows
the Format API to accept an unlimited number of arguments. With older
compilers the maximum is 15.
* User-defined literals: minimum GCC 4.7, Clang 3.1 or VS2015. The suffixes
``_format`` and ``_a`` are functionally equivalent to the functions
``fmt::format`` and ``fmt::arg``.
The output of all formatting functions is consistent across platforms. In
particular, formatting a floating-point infinity always gives ``inf`` while the
output of ``printf`` is platform-dependent in this case. For example,
.. code::
fmt::print("{}", std::numeric_limits<double>::infinity());
always prints ``inf``.
.. _ease-of-use:
Ease of Use
-----------
fmt has a small self-contained code base with the core library consisting of
a single header file and a single source file and no external dependencies.
A permissive BSD `license <https://github.com/fmtlib/fmt#license>`_ allows
using the library both in open-source and commercial projects.
.. raw:: html
<a class="btn btn-success" href="https://github.com/fmtlib/fmt">GitHub Repository</a>
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