INSTALLATION You should be able to use this set of instructions to install the module: perl Makefile.PL make make test make install If you are on a windows box you should use 'nmake' rather than 'make'. If you don't have (n)make then you can install the module manually by simply copying the contents of the 'lib' subdirectory from the archive, into a directory that is in @INC, for example the subdirectory site/lib, somewhere in the perl file tree. Run this one-liner to see your default options. perl -le "print for @INC" Alternatively, put it in a place that you add to @INC yourself, using "use lib", the command line switch "-I", or the environment variable "PERL5LIB". You can manually run the tests, before installation, by running the following command line for each test file in the subdirectory "t", from the directory that contains the Makefile.PL: perl -Ilib t/001_load.t What follows, is a text only rendering of the docs. NAME String::Sprintf - Custom overloading of sprintf SYNOPSIS use String::Sprintf; my $f = String::Sprintf->formatter( N => sub { my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; return commify(sprintf "%${width}f", $value); } ); my $out = $f->sprintf('(%10.2N, %10.2N)', 12345678.901, 87654.321); print "Formatted result: $out\n"; sub commify { my $n = shift; $n =~ s/(\.\d+)|(?<=\d)(?=(?:\d\d\d)+\b)/$1 || ','/ge; return $n; } DESCRIPTION How often has it happened that you wished for a format that (s)printf just doesn't support? Have you ever wished you could overload sprintf with custom formats? Well, I know I have. And this module provides a way to do just that. USAGE So what is a formatter? Think of it as a "thing" that contains custom settings and behaviour for sprintf. Any formatting style that you don't set ("overload") falls back to the built-in keyword sprintf. You can make a minimal formatter that behaves just like sprintf (and that is actually using sprintf internally) with: # nothing custom, all default: my $default = String::Sprintf->formatter(); print $default->sprintf("%%%02X\n", 35); # which produces the same result as: print sprintf("%%%02X\n", 35); # built-in Because of the explicit use of these formatters, you can, of course, use several different formatters at the same time, even in the same expression. That is why it's better that it doesn't actually *really* overload the built-in sprintf. Plus, it was far easier to implement this way. The syntax used is OO Perl, though I don't really consider this as an object oriented module. METHODS class method: formatter( 'A' => \&formatter_A, 'B' => \&formatter_B, ... ) A constructor. This returns a formatter object that holds custom formatting definitions, each associated with a letter, for its method "sprintf". Its arguments consist of hash-like pairs of each a formatting letter (case sensitive) and a sub ref that is used for callbacks, and that is expected to return the formatted substring. callback API A callback is supposed to behave like this: sub callback { my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; ... return $formatted_string; } Arguments: my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; There are 4 arguments passed to the callback functions, in order of descending importance. So the more commonly used parameters come first - and yes, that's my mnemonic. They are: $width The part that got put between the '%' and the letter. $value The current value from the arguments list, the one you're supposed to format. $values = \@value An array ref containing the whole list of all passed arguments, in case you want to support positional indexed values by default, as is done in strftime $letter The letter that caused the callback to be invoked. This is only provided for the cases where you use a common callback sub, for more than one letter, so you can still distinguish between them. return value: a string The return value in scalar context of this sub is inserted into the final, composed result, as a string. instance method: sprintf($formatstring, $value1, $value2, ...) This method inserts the values you pass to it into the formatting string, and returns the constructed string. Just like the built-in sprintf does. If you're using formatting letters that are *not* provided when you built the formatter, then it will fall back to the native formatter: "sprintf" in perlfunc. So you need only to provide formatters for which you're not happy with the built-ins. EXPORTS Nothing. What did you expect? TODO Support for overloading strftime is planned for the next release (soon), and proper support for position indexed values, like "%2$03X", is next (also soon). SEE ALSO "sprintf" in perlfunc, sprintf(3), "strftime" in POSIX BUGS You tell me...? SUPPORT Poke me at Perlmonks (username "bart" - I'm often hanging around in the Chatterbox), or mail me. AUTHOR Bart Lateur CPAN ID: BARTL Me at home, eating a hotdog bart.lateur@pandora.be L L COPYRIGHT (c) Bart Lateur 2006. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. My personal terms are like this: you can do whatever you want with this software: bundle it with any software, be it for free, released under the GPL, or commercial; you may redistribute it by itself, fix bugs, add features, and redistribute the modified copy. I would appreciate being informed in case you do the latter. What you may not do, is sell the software, as a standalone product. NAME String::Sprintf - Custom overloading of sprintf SYNOPSIS use String::Sprintf; my $f = String::Sprintf->formatter( N => sub { my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; return commify(sprintf "%${width}f", $value); } ); my $out = $f->sprintf('(%10.2N, %10.2N)', 12345678.901, 87654.321); print "Formatted result: $out\n"; sub commify { my $n = shift; $n =~ s/(\.\d+)|(?<=\d)(?=(?:\d\d\d)+\b)/$1 || ','/ge; return $n; } DESCRIPTION How often has it happened that you wished for a format that (s)printf just doesn't support? Have you ever wished you could overload sprintf with custom formats? Well, I know I have. And this module provides a way to do just that. USAGE So what is a formatter? Think of it as a "thing" that contains custom settings and behaviour for sprintf. Any formatting style that you don't set ("overload") falls back to the built-in keyword sprintf. You can make a minimal formatter that behaves just like sprintf (and that is actually using sprintf internally) with: # nothing custom, all default: my $default = String::Sprintf->formatter(); print $default->sprintf("%%%02X\n", 35); # which produces the same result as: print sprintf("%%%02X\n", 35); # built-in Because of the explicit use of these formatters, you can, of course, use several different formatters at the same time, even in the same expression. That is why it's better that it doesn't actually *really* overload the built-in sprintf. Plus, it was far easier to implement this way. The syntax used is OO Perl, though I don't really consider this as an object oriented module. METHODS class method: formatter( 'A' => \&formatter_A, 'B' => \&formatter_B, ... ) A constructor. This returns a formatter object that holds custom formatting definitions, each associated with a letter, for its method "sprintf". Its arguments consist of hash-like pairs of each a formatting letter (case sensitive) and a sub ref that is used for callbacks, and that is expected to return the formatted substring. callback API A callback is supposed to behave like this: sub callback { my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; ... return $formatted_string; } Arguments: my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; There are 4 arguments passed to the callback functions, in order of descending importance. So the more commonly used parameters come first - and yes, that's my mnemonic. They are: $width The part that got put between the '%' and the letter. $value The current value from the arguments list, the one you're supposed to format. $values = \@value An array ref containing the whole list of all passed arguments, in case you want to support positional indexed values by default, as is done in strftime $letter The letter that caused the callback to be invoked. This is only provided for the cases where you use a common callback sub, for more than one letter, so you can still distinguish between them. return value: a string The return value in scalar context of this sub is inserted into the final, composed result, as a string. instance method: sprintf($formatstring, $value1, $value2, ...) This method inserts the values you pass to it into the formatting string, and returns the constructed string. Just like the built-in sprintf does. If you're using formatting letters that are *not* provided when you built the formatter, then it will fall back to the native formatter: "sprintf" in perlfunc. So you need only to provide formatters for which you're not happy with the built-ins. EXPORTS Nothing. What did you expect? TODO Support for overloading strftime is planned for the next release (soon), and proper support for position indexed values, like "%2$03X", is next (also soon). SEE ALSO "sprintf" in perlfunc, sprintf(3), "strftime" in POSIX BUGS You tell me...? SUPPORT Poke me at Perlmonks (username "bart" - I'm often hanging around in the Chatterbox), or mail me. AUTHOR Bart Lateur CPAN ID: BARTL Me at home, eating a hotdog bart.lateur@pandora.be L L COPYRIGHT (c) Bart Lateur 2006. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. My personal terms are like this: you can do whatever you want with this software: bundle it with any software, be it for free, released under the GPL, or commercial; you may redistribute it by itself, fix bugs, add features, and redistribute the modified copy. I would appreciate being informed in case you do the latter. What you may not do, is sell the software, as a standalone product. NAME String::Sprintf - Custom overloading of sprintf SYNOPSIS use String::Sprintf; my $f = String::Sprintf->formatter( N => sub { my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; return commify(sprintf "%${width}f", $value); } ); my $out = $f->sprintf('(%10.2N, %10.2N)', 12345678.901, 87654.321); print "Formatted result: $out\n"; sub commify { my $n = shift; $n =~ s/(\.\d+)|(?<=\d)(?=(?:\d\d\d)+\b)/$1 || ','/ge; return $n; } DESCRIPTION How often has it happened that you wished for a format that (s)printf just doesn't support? Have you ever wished you could overload sprintf with custom formats? Well, I know I have. And this module provides a way to do just that. USAGE So what is a formatter? Think of it as a "thing" that contains custom settings and behaviour for sprintf. Any formatting style that you don't set ("overload") falls back to the built-in keyword sprintf. You can make a minimal formatter that behaves just like sprintf (and that is actually using sprintf internally) with: # nothing custom, all default: my $default = String::Sprintf->formatter(); print $default->sprintf("%%%02X\n", 35); # which produces the same result as: print sprintf("%%%02X\n", 35); # built-in Because of the explicit use of these formatters, you can, of course, use several different formatters at the same time, even in the same expression. That is why it's better that it doesn't actually *really* overload the built-in sprintf. Plus, it was far easier to implement this way. The syntax used is OO Perl, though I don't really consider this as an object oriented module. For example, I foresee no reason for subclassing. METHODS class method: formatter( 'A' => \&formatter_A, 'B' => \&formatter_B, ... ) A constructor. This returns a formatter object that holds custom formatting definitions, each associated with a letter, for its method "sprintf". Its arguments consist of hash-like pairs of each a formatting letter (case sensitive) and a sub ref that is used for callbacks, and that is expected to return the formatted substring. callback API A callback is supposed to behave like this: sub callback { my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; ... return $formatted_string; } Arguments: my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; There are 4 arguments passed to the callback functions, in order of descending importance. So the more commonly used parameters come first - and yes, that's my mnemonic. They are: $width The part that got put between the '%' and the letter. $value The current value from the arguments list, the one you're supposed to format. $values = \@value An array ref containing the whole list of all passed arguments, in case you want to support positional indexed values by default, as is done in strftime $letter The letter that caused the callback to be invoked. This is only provided for the cases where you use a common callback sub, for more than one letter, so you can still distinguish between them. return value: a string The return value in scalar context of this sub is inserted into the final, composed result, as a string. instance method: sprintf($formatstring, $value1, $value2, ...) This method inserts the values you pass to it into the formatting string, and returns the constructed string. Just like the built-in sprintf does. If you're using formatting letters that are *not* provided when you built the formatter, then it will fall back to the native formatter: "sprintf" in perlfunc. So you need only to provide formatters for which you're not happy with the built-ins. EXPORTS Nothing. What did you expect? TODO Support for overloading strftime is planned for the next release (soon), and proper support for position indexed values, like "%2$03X", is next (also soon). SEE ALSO "sprintf" in perlfunc, sprintf(3), "strftime" in POSIX BUGS You tell me...? SUPPORT Poke me at Perlmonks (username "bart" - I'm often hanging around in the Chatterbox), or mail me. AUTHOR Bart Lateur CPAN ID: BARTL Me at home, eating a hotdog bart.lateur@pandora.be L L COPYRIGHT (c) Bart Lateur 2006. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. My personal terms are like this: you can do whatever you want with this software: bundle it with any software, be it for free, released under the GPL, or commercial; you may redistribute it by itself, fix bugs, add features, and redistribute the modified copy. I would appreciate being informed in case you do the latter. What you may not do, is sell the software, as a standalone product. NAME String::Sprintf - Custom overloading of sprintf SYNOPSIS use String::Sprintf; my $f = String::Sprintf->formatter( N => sub { my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; return commify(sprintf "%${width}f", $value); } ); my $out = $f->sprintf('(%10.2N, %10.2N)', 12345678.901, 87654.321); print "Formatted result: $out\n"; sub commify { my $n = shift; $n =~ s/(\.\d+)|(?<=\d)(?=(?:\d\d\d)+\b)/$1 || ','/ge; return $n; } DESCRIPTION How often has it happened that you wished for a format that (s)printf just doesn't support? Have you ever wished you could overload sprintf with custom formats? Well, I know I have. And this module provides a way to do just that. USAGE So what is a formatter? Think of it as a "thing" that contains custom settings and behaviour for sprintf. Any formatting style that you don't set ("overload") falls back to the built-in keyword sprintf. You can make a minimal formatter that behaves just like sprintf (and that is actually using sprintf internally) with: # nothing custom, all default: my $default = String::Sprintf->formatter(); print $default->sprintf("%%%02X\n", 35); # which produces the same result as: print sprintf("%%%02X\n", 35); # built-in Because of the explicit use of these formatters, you can, of course, use several different formatters at the same time, even in the same expression. That is why it's better that it doesn't actually *really* overload the built-in sprintf. Plus, it was far easier to implement this way. The syntax used is OO Perl, though I don't really consider this as an object oriented module. For example, I foresee no reason for subclassing. METHODS class method: formatter( 'A' => \&formatter_A, 'B' => \&formatter_B, ... ) A constructor. This returns a formatter object that holds custom formatting definitions, each associated with a letter, for its method "sprintf". Its arguments consist of hash-like pairs of each a formatting letter (case sensitive) and a sub ref that is used for callbacks, and that is expected to return the formatted substring. callback API A callback is supposed to behave like this: sub callback { my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; ... return $formatted_string; } Arguments: my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; There are 4 arguments passed to the callback functions, in order of descending importance. So the more commonly used parameters come first - and yes, that's my mnemonic. They are: $width The part that got put between the '%' and the letter. $value The current value from the arguments list, the one you're supposed to format. $values = \@value An array ref containing the whole list of all passed arguments, in case you want to support positional indexed values by default, as is done in strftime $letter The letter that caused the callback to be invoked. This is only provided for the cases where you use a common callback sub, for more than one letter, so you can still distinguish between them. return value: a string The return value in scalar context of this sub is inserted into the final, composed result, as a string. instance method: sprintf($formatstring, $value1, $value2, ...) This method inserts the values you pass to it into the formatting string, and returns the constructed string. Just like the built-in sprintf does. If you're using formatting letters that are *not* provided when you built the formatter, then it will fall back to the native formatter: "sprintf" in perlfunc. So you need only to provide formatters for which you're not happy with the built-ins. EXPORTS Nothing. What did you expect? TODO Support for overloading strftime is planned for the next release (soon), and proper support for position indexed values, like "%2$03X", is next (also soon). SEE ALSO "sprintf" in perlfunc, sprintf(3), "strftime" in POSIX BUGS You tell me...? SUPPORT Poke me at Perlmonks (username "bart" - I'm often hanging around in the Chatterbox), or mail me. AUTHOR Bart Lateur CPAN ID: BARTL Me at home, eating a hotdog bart.lateur@pandora.be L L COPYRIGHT (c) Bart Lateur 2006. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. My personal terms are like this: you can do whatever you want with this software: bundle it with any software, be it for free, released under the GPL, or commercial; you may redistribute it by itself, fix bugs, add features, and redistribute the modified copy. I would appreciate being informed in case you do the latter. What you may not do, is sell the software, as a standalone product. NAME String::Sprintf - Custom overloading of sprintf SYNOPSIS use String::Sprintf; my $f = String::Sprintf->formatter( N => sub { my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; return commify(sprintf "%${width}f", $value); } ); my $out = $f->sprintf('(%10.2N, %10.2N)', 12345678.901, 87654.321); print "Formatted result: $out\n"; sub commify { my $n = shift; $n =~ s/(\.\d+)|(?<=\d)(?=(?:\d\d\d)+\b)/$1 || ','/ge; return $n; } DESCRIPTION How often has it happened that you wished for a format that (s)printf just doesn't support? Have you ever wished you could overload sprintf with custom formats? Well, I know I have. And this module provides a way to do just that. USAGE So what is a formatter? Think of it as a "thing" that contains custom settings and behaviour for sprintf. Any formatting style that you don't set ("overload") falls back to the built-in keyword sprintf. You can make a minimal formatter that behaves just like sprintf (and that is actually using sprintf internally) with: # nothing custom, all default: my $default = String::Sprintf->formatter(); print $default->sprintf("%%%02X\n", 35); # which produces the same result as: print sprintf("%%%02X\n", 35); # built-in Because of the explicit use of these formatters, you can, of course, use several different formatters at the same time, even in the same expression. That is why it's better that it doesn't actually *really* overload the built-in sprintf. Plus, it was far easier to implement this way. The syntax used is OO Perl, though I don't really consider this as an object oriented module. For example, I foresee no reason for subclassing, and all formatters behave differently. That's what they're for. METHODS class method: formatter( 'A' => \&formatter_A, 'B' => \&formatter_B, ... ) A constructor. This returns a formatter object that holds custom formatting definitions, each associated with a letter, for its method "sprintf". Its arguments consist of hash-like pairs of each a formatting letter (case sensitive) and a sub ref that is used for callbacks, and that is expected to return the formatted substring. callback API A callback is supposed to behave like this: sub callback { my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; ... return $formatted_string; } Arguments: my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; There are 4 arguments passed to the callback functions, in order of descending importance. So the more commonly used parameters come first - and yes, that's my mnemonic. They are: $width The part that got put between the '%' and the letter. $value The current value from the arguments list, the one you're supposed to format. $values = \@value An array ref containing the whole list of all passed arguments, in case you want to support positional indexed values by default, as is done in strftime $letter The letter that caused the callback to be invoked. This is only provided for the cases where you use a common callback sub, for more than one letter, so you can still distinguish between them. return value: a string The return value in scalar context of this sub is inserted into the final, composed result, as a string. instance method: sprintf($formatstring, $value1, $value2, ...) This method inserts the values you pass to it into the formatting string, and returns the constructed string. Just like the built-in sprintf does. If you're using formatting letters that are *not* provided when you built the formatter, then it will fall back to the native formatter: "sprintf" in perlfunc. So you need only to provide formatters for which you're not happy with the built-ins. EXPORTS Nothing. What did you expect? TODO Support for overloading strftime is planned for the next release (soon), and proper support for position indexed values, like "%2$03X", is next (also soon). SEE ALSO "sprintf" in perlfunc, sprintf(3), "strftime" in POSIX BUGS You tell me...? SUPPORT Poke me at Perlmonks (username "bart" - I'm often hanging around in the Chatterbox), or mail me. AUTHOR Bart Lateur CPAN ID: BARTL Me at home, eating a hotdog bart.lateur@pandora.be L L COPYRIGHT (c) Bart Lateur 2006. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. My personal terms are like this: you can do whatever you want with this software: bundle it with any software, be it for free, released under the GPL, or commercial; you may redistribute it by itself, fix bugs, add features, and redistribute the modified copy. I would appreciate being informed in case you do the latter. What you may not do, is sell the software, as a standalone product. NAME String::Sprintf - Custom overloading of sprintf SYNOPSIS use String::Sprintf; my $f = String::Sprintf->formatter( N => sub { my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; return commify(sprintf "%${width}f", $value); } ); my $out = $f->sprintf('(%10.2N, %10.2N)', 12345678.901, 87654.321); print "Formatted result: $out\n"; sub commify { my $n = shift; $n =~ s/(\.\d+)|(?<=\d)(?=(?:\d\d\d)+\b)/$1 || ','/ge; return $n; } DESCRIPTION How often has it happened that you wished for a format that (s)printf just doesn't support? Have you ever wished you could overload sprintf with custom formats? Well, I know I have. And this module provides a way to do just that. USAGE So what is a formatter? Think of it as a "thing" that contains custom settings and behaviour for sprintf. Any formatting style that you don't set ("overload") falls back to the built-in keyword sprintf. You can make a minimal formatter that behaves just like sprintf (and that is actually using sprintf internally) with: # nothing custom, all default: my $default = String::Sprintf->formatter(); print $default->sprintf("%%%02X\n", 35); # which produces the same result as: print sprintf("%%%02X\n", 35); # built-in Because of the explicit use of these formatters, you can, of course, use several different formatters at the same time, even in the same expression. That is why it's better that it doesn't actually *really* overload the built-in sprintf. Plus, it was far easier to implement this way. The syntax used is OO Perl, though I don't really consider this as an object oriented module. For example, I foresee no reason for subclassing, and all formatters behave differently. That's what they're for. METHODS class method: formatter( 'A' => \&formatter_A, 'B' => \&formatter_B, ... ) A constructor. This returns a formatter object that holds custom formatting definitions, each associated with a letter, for its method "sprintf". Its arguments consist of hash-like pairs of each a formatting letter (case sensitive) and a sub ref that is used for callbacks, and that is expected to return the formatted substring. callback API A callback is supposed to behave like this: sub callback { my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; ... return $formatted_string; } Arguments: my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; There are 4 arguments passed to the callback functions, in order of descending importance. So the more commonly used parameters come first - and yes, that's my mnemonic. They are: $width The part that got put between the '%' and the letter. $value The current value from the arguments list, the one you're supposed to format. $values = \@value An array ref containing the whole list of all passed arguments, in case you want to support positional indexed values by default, as is done in strftime $letter The letter that caused the callback to be invoked. This is only provided for the cases where you use a common callback sub, for more than one letter, so you can still distinguish between them. return value: a string The return value in scalar context of this sub is inserted into the final, composed result, as a string. instance method: sprintf($formatstring, $value1, $value2, ...) This method inserts the values you pass to it into the formatting string, and returns the constructed string. Just like the built-in sprintf does. If you're using formatting letters that are *not* provided when you built the formatter, then it will fall back to the native formatter: "sprintf" in perlfunc. So you need only to provide formatters for which you're not happy with the built-ins. EXPORTS Nothing. What did you expect? TODO Support for overloading strftime is planned for the next release (soon), and proper support for position indexed values, like "%2$03X", is next (also soon). SEE ALSO "sprintf" in perlfunc, sprintf(3), "strftime" in POSIX BUGS You tell me...? SUPPORT Poke me at Perlmonks (username "bart" - I'm often hanging around in the Chatterbox), or mail me. AUTHOR Bart Lateur CPAN ID: BARTL Me at home, eating a hotdog bart.lateur@pandora.be L L COPYRIGHT (c) Bart Lateur 2006. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. My personal terms are like this: you can do whatever you want with this software: bundle it with any software, be it for free, released under the GPL, or commercial; you may redistribute it by itself, fix bugs, add features, and redistribute the modified copy. I would appreciate being informed in case you do the latter. What you may not do, is sell the software, as a standalone product. NAME String::Sprintf - Custom overloading of sprintf SYNOPSIS use String::Sprintf; my $f = String::Sprintf->formatter( N => sub { my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; return commify(sprintf "%${width}f", $value); } ); my $out = $f->sprintf('(%10.2N, %10.2N)', 12345678.901, 87654.321); print "Formatted result: $out\n"; sub commify { my $n = shift; $n =~ s/(\.\d+)|(?<=\d)(?=(?:\d\d\d)+\b)/$1 || ','/ge; return $n; } DESCRIPTION How often has it happened that you wished for a format that (s)printf just doesn't support? Have you ever wished you could overload sprintf with custom formats? Well, I know I have. And this module provides a way to do just that. USAGE So what is a formatter? Think of it as a "thing" that contains custom settings and behaviour for sprintf. Any formatting style that you don't set ("overload") falls back to the built-in keyword sprintf. You can make a minimal formatter that behaves just like sprintf (and that is actually using sprintf internally) with: # nothing custom, all default: my $default = String::Sprintf->formatter(); print $default->sprintf("%%%02X\n", 35); # which produces the same result as: print sprintf("%%%02X\n", 35); # built-in Because of the explicit use of these formatters, you can, of course, use several different formatters at the same time, even in the same expression. That is why it's better that it doesn't actually *really* overload the built-in sprintf. Plus, it was far easier to implement this way. The syntax used is OO Perl, though I don't really consider this as an object oriented module. For example, I foresee no reason for subclassing, and all formatters behave differently. That's what they're for. METHODS class method: formatter( 'A' => \&formatter_A, 'B' => \&formatter_B, ... ) A constructor. This returns a formatter object that holds custom formatting definitions, each associated with a letter, for its method "sprintf". Its arguments consist of hash-like pairs of each a formatting letter (case sensitive) and a sub ref that is used for callbacks, and that is expected to return the formatted substring. callback API A callback is supposed to behave like this: sub callback { my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; ... return $formatted_string; } Arguments: my($width, $value, $values, $letter) = @_; There are 4 arguments passed to the callback functions, in order of descending importance. So the more commonly used parameters come first - and yes, that's my mnemonic. They are: $width The part that got put between the '%' and the letter. $value The current value from the arguments list, the one you're supposed to format. $values = \@value An array ref containing the whole list of all passed arguments, in case you want to support positional indexed values by default, as is done in strftime $letter The letter that caused the callback to be invoked. This is only provided for the cases where you use a common callback sub, for more than one letter, so you can still distinguish between them. return value: a string The return value in scalar context of this sub is inserted into the final, composed result, as a string. instance method: sprintf($formatstring, $value1, $value2, ...) This method inserts the values you pass to it into the formatting string, and returns the constructed string. Just like the built-in sprintf does. If you're using formatting letters that are *not* provided when you built the formatter, then it will fall back to the native formatter: "sprintf" in perlfunc. So you need only to provide formatters for which you're not happy with the built-ins. EXPORTS Nothing. What did you expect? TODO Support for overloading strftime is planned for the next release (soon), and proper support for position indexed values, like "%2$03X", is next (also soon). SEE ALSO "sprintf" in perlfunc, sprintf(3), "strftime" in POSIX BUGS You tell me...? SUPPORT Poke me at Perlmonks (username "bart" - I'm often hanging around in the Chatterbox), or mail me. AUTHOR Bart Lateur CPAN ID: BARTL Me at home, eating a hotdog bart.lateur@pandora.be L L COPYRIGHT (c) Bart Lateur 2006. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. My personal terms are like this: you can do whatever you want with this software: bundle it with any software, be it for free, released under the GPL, or commercial; you may redistribute it by itself, fix bugs, add features, and redistribute the modified copy. I would appreciate being informed in case you do the latter. What you may not do, is sell the software, as a standalone product.