Hi

I want to use sprintf for generating a string that contains a repeated set of arguments, and wanted to not have to specify the arguments multiple times, I found a way to do it (using %[n]$s), and the example below works.

perl -e 'printf q{%2$s %1$s - %2$s %2$s}, "world", "hello"'

The problem is I haven't found any mention of it in the camel book, and a quick search here didn't turn up anything. Is it safe to use this, or is this something that is not likely to be universally implemented?. If it is safe to use, why isn't it mentioned in the camel book?

Prowler
 - Spelling is a demanding task that requies you full attention.

In reply to (s)printf using argument selection by prowler

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.