warnings when using % and printf

jeanluca has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Dear Monks,

I just tried the following:

use warnings ;
use strict ;

my $total = 99 ;
print "total is %s%\n", $total ;
[download]

Running this gives you/me the following warning:

Invalid conversion in printf: "%)" at /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.7/M
+y_module.pm line 401.
[download]

Any suggestions how to get rid of this warning?

Thnx a lot
Luca

Comment on warnings when using % and printf Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: warnings when using % and printf by Fletch (Bishop) on May 30, 2006 at 18:04 UTC
The above mentioned ambiguities aside, you're probably trying to include a literal "`%`" in your output; if you read the docs for sprintf it shows you need to double it to get a single literal percent sign in the output.	[reply]
Re: warnings when using % and printf by VSarkiss (Monsignor) on May 30, 2006 at 18:01 UTC
Your code sample and the error message don't match. You're using `print` and that error message is about `printf`. It's coming from somewhere else -- you need to figure out where first. As to the error itself, there's no format specification `%)` (nor `%\n`). You may be thinking that the percent sign goes both before and after the format (like `%s%`). It doesn't, it only goes in front (like `%s`). Do not rebuke them with harsh words ... but rather lead them gently - with URLs - so that they may learn wisdom.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: warnings when using % and printf by swampyankee (Parson) on May 30, 2006 at 18:25 UTC
Also, `%s` is to output a string. Given that Perl will convert variables to numbers or strings as needed, this may be a trivial gripe, but for a numerical value, such as 99, you probably want something like `%d` or `%f` vs `%s`. emc e^(π√−1) = −1	[reply]
Re: warnings when using % and printf by HuckinFappy (Pilgrim) on May 30, 2006 at 19:07 UTC
printf() uses the same formats as sprintf(). So here's a pointer to the sprintf() documentation, in case it helps you.	[reply]
Re: warnings when using % and printf by jeanluca (Deacon) on May 30, 2006 at 18:25 UTC
sorry, the print statement in my example should have been a printf! Thnx for the answers Luca	[reply]
Re^2: warnings when using % and printf by mikasue (Friar) on May 30, 2006 at 18:41 UTC
Do you want %s%% so it prints a percent sign?	[reply]
Re^3: warnings when using % and printf by jeanluca (Deacon) on May 30, 2006 at 19:14 UTC
yes!!	[reply]
Re: warnings when using % and printf by mikasue (Friar) on May 30, 2006 at 18:37 UTC
Is %s% necessary? Why the second %?	[reply]
Re^2: warnings when using % and printf by jeanluca (Deacon) on May 30, 2006 at 19:15 UTC
I need the % so I can print percentages!	[reply]
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