std::format

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Defined in header <format>
template< class... Args >
std::string format( /*format_string<Args...>*/ fmt, Args&&... args );
(1) (since C++20)
template< class... Args >
std::wstring format( /*wformat_string<Args...>*/ fmt, Args&&... args );
(2) (since C++20)
template< class... Args >

std::string format( const std::locale& loc,

                    /*format_string<Args...>*/ fmt, Args&&... args );
(3) (since C++20)
template< class... Args >

std::wstring format( const std::locale& loc,

                     /*wformat_string<Args...>*/ fmt, Args&&... args );
(4) (since C++20)

Format args according to the format string fmt, and return the result as a string. If present, loc is used for locale-specific formatting.

1) equivalent to return std::vformat(fmt.str, std::make_format_args(args...));
2) equivalent to return std::vformat(fmt.str, std::make_wformat_args(args...));
3) equivalent to return std::vformat(loc, fmt.str, std::make_format_args(args...));
4) equivalent to return std::vformat(loc, fmt.str, std::make_wformat_args(args...));

The behavior is undefined if std::formatter<Ti, CharT> does not meet the BasicFormatter requirements for any Ti in Args (as required by std::make_format_args and std::make_wformat_args), where CharT is char for overloads (1,3), wchar_t for overloads (2,4).

Parameters

fmt - parameter of unspecified type, whose initialization is valid only if the argument is convertible to std::string_view (for (1,3)) or std::wstring_view (for (2,4)), and the result of conversion is a constant expression and a valid format string for Args. The format string consists of
  • ordinary characters (except { and }), which are copied unchanged to the output,
  • escape sequences {{ and }}, which are replaced with { and } respectively in the output, and
  • replacement fields.

Each replacement field has the following format:

{ arg-id (optional) } (1)
{ arg-id (optional) : format-spec } (2)
1) replacement field without a format specification
2) replacement field with a format specification
arg-id - specifies the index of the argument in args whose value is to be used for formatting; if it is omitted, the arguments are used in order.

The arg-ids in a format string must all be present or all be omitted. Mixing manual and automatic indexing is an error.

format-spec - the format specification defined by the std::formatter specialization for the corresponding argument.
  • For basic types and standard string types, the format specification is interpreted as standard format specification.
  • For chrono types, the format specification is interpreted as chrono format specification.
  • For other formattable types, the format specification is determined by user-defined formatter specializations.
args... - arguments to be formatted
loc - std::locale used for locale-specific formatting

Return value

A string object holding the formatted result.

Exceptions

Throws std::bad_alloc on allocation failure. Also propagates exception thrown by any formatter.

Notes

It is not an error to provide more arguments than the format string requires:

std::format("{} {}!", "Hello", "world", "something"); // OK, produces "Hello world!"

As of P2216R3, it is an error if the format string is not a constant expression. std::vformat can be used in this case.

std::string f(std::string_view runtime_format_string) {
    // return std::format(runtime_format_string, "foo", "bar"); // error
    return std::vformat(runtime_format_string, std::make_format_args("foo", "bar")); // ok
}

Example

#include <format>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <string_view>
 
template <typename... Args>
std::string dyna_print(std::string_view rt_fmt_str, Args&&... args) {
    return std::vformat(rt_fmt_str, std::make_format_args(args...));
}
 
int main() {
    std::cout << std::format("Hello {}!\n", "world");
 
    std::string fmt;
    for (int i{}; i != 3; ++i) {
        fmt += "{} "; // constructs the formatting string
        std::cout << fmt << " : ";
        std::cout << dyna_print(fmt, "alpha", 'Z', 3.14, "unused");
        std::cout << '\n';
    }
}

Output:

Hello world!
{}  : alpha 
{} {}  : alpha Z 
{} {} {}  : alpha Z 3.14

Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

DR Applied to Behavior as published Correct behavior
P2216R3 C++20 throws std::format_error for invalid format string invalid format string results in compile-time error
P2418R2 C++20 objects that are neither const-usable nor copyable
(such as generator-like objects) are not formattable
allow formatting these objects

See also

(C++20)
writes out formatted representation of its arguments through an output iterator
(function template)
writes out formatted representation of its arguments through an output iterator, not exceeding specified size
(function template)