Formatted text using printf

In this post, we’ll take a small detour and look at how to create formatted text. The printing and formatting functions are technically library functions, but in practice they as used as if they were part of the core language.

F# supports two distinct styles of formatting text:

• The standard .NET technique of “composite formatting” as seen in String.Format, Console.WriteLine and other places.
• The C-style technique of using printf and the associated family of functions such as printfn, sprintf and so on.

The composite formatting technique is available in all .NET languages, and you are probably familiar with it from C#.

Console.WriteLine("A string: {0}. An int: {1}. A float: {2}. A bool: {3}","hello",42,3.14,true)

The printf technique, on the other hand, is based on the C-style format strings:

printfn "A string: %s. An int: %i. A float: %f. A bool: %b" "hello" 42 3.14 true

As you have seen, the printf technique is very common in F#, while String.Format, Console.Write and so on, are rarely used.

Why is printf preferred and considered idiomatic for F#? The reasons are:

• It is statically type checked.
• It is a well-behaved F# function and so supports partial application, etc.
• It supports native F# types.

Unlike String.Format, printf is statically type checked, both for the types of the parameters, and the number.

For example, here are two snippets using printf that will fail to compile:

// wrong parameter type
printfn "A string: %s" 42

// wrong number of parameters
printfn "A string: %s" "Hello" 42

The equivalent code using composite formatting will compile fine but either work incorrectly but silently, or give a runtime error:

// wrong parameter type
Console.WriteLine("A string: {0}", 42)   //works!

// wrong number of parameters
Console.WriteLine("A string: {0}","Hello",42)  //works!
Console.WriteLine("A string: {0}. An int: {1}","Hello") //FormatException

The .NET formatting functions require all parameters to be passed in at the same time.

But printf is a standard, well-behaved F# function, and so supports partial application.

Here are some examples:

// partial application - explicit parameters
let printStringAndInt s i =  printfn "A string: %s. An int: %i" s i
let printHelloAndInt i = printStringAndInt "Hello" i
do printHelloAndInt 42

// partial application - point free style
let printInt =  printfn "An int: %i"
do printInt 42

And of course, printf can be used for function parameters anywhere a standard function can be used.

let doSomething printerFn x y =
    let result = x + y
    printerFn "result is" result

let callback = printfn "%s %i"
do doSomething callback 3 4

This also includes the higher order functions for lists, etc:

[1..5] |> List.map (sprintf "i=%i")

For non-primitive types, the .NET formatting functions only support using ToString(), but printf supports native F# types using the %A specifier:

// tuple printing
let t = (1,2)
Console.WriteLine("A tuple: {0}", t)
printfn "A tuple: %A" t

// record printing
type Person = {First:string; Last:string}
let johnDoe = {First="John"; Last="Doe"}
Console.WriteLine("A record: {0}", johnDoe )
printfn "A record: %A" johnDoe

// union types printing
type Temperature = F of int | C of int
let freezing = F 32
Console.WriteLine("A union: {0}", freezing )
printfn "A union: %A" freezing

As you can see, tuple types have a nice ToString() but other user defined types don’t, so if you want to use them with the .NET formatting functions, you will have to override the ToString() method explicitly.

There are a couple of “gotchas” to be aware of when using printf.

First, if there are too few parameters, rather than too many, the compiler will not complain immediately, but might give cryptic errors later.

// too few parameters
printfn "A string: %s An int: %i" "Hello"

The reason, of course, is that this is not an error at all; printf is just being partially applied! See the discussion of partial application if you are not clear of why this happens.

Another issue is that the “format strings” are not actually strings.

In the .NET formatting model, the formatting strings are normal strings, so you can pass them around, store them in resource files, and so on. Which means that the following code works fine:

let netFormatString = "A string: {0}"
Console.WriteLine(netFormatString, "hello")

On the other hand, the “format strings” that are the first argument to printf are not really strings at all, but something called a TextWriterFormat. Which means that the following code does not work:

let fsharpFormatString = "A string: %s"
printfn fsharpFormatString  "Hello"

The compiler does some magic behind the scenes to convert the string constant "A string: %s" into the appropriate TextWriterFormat. The TextWriterFormat is the key component that “knows” the type of the format string, such as string->unit or string->int->unit, which in turn allows printf to be typesafe.

If you want to emulate the compiler, you can create your own TextWriterFormat value from a string using the Printf.TextWriterFormat type in the Microsoft.FSharp.Core.Printf module.

If the format string is “inline”, the compiler can deduce the type for you during binding:

let format:Printf.TextWriterFormat<_> = "A string: %s"
printfn format "Hello"

But if the format string is truly dynamic (e.g. stored in a resource or created on the fly), the compiler cannot deduce the type for you, and you must explicitly provide it with the constructor.

In the example below, my first format string has a single string parameter and returns a unit, so I have to specify string->unit as the format type. And in the second case, I have to specify string->int->unit as the format type.

let formatAString = "A string: %s"
let formatAStringAndInt = "A string: %s. An int: %i"

//convert to TextWriterFormat
let twFormat1  = Printf.TextWriterFormat<string->unit>(formatAString)
printfn twFormat1 "Hello"
let twFormat2  = Printf.TextWriterFormat<string->int->unit>(formatAStringAndInt)
printfn twFormat2  "Hello" 42

I won’t go into detail on exactly how printf and TextWriterFormat` work together right now – just be aware that is not just a matter of simple format strings being passed around.

Finally, it’s worth noting that printf and family are not thread-safe, while Console.Write and family are.

The “%” format specifications are quite similar to those used in C, but with some special customizations for F#.

As with C, the characters immediately following the % have a specific meaning, as shown below.

%[flags][width][.precision]specifier

We’ll discuss each of these attributes in more detail below.

The most commonly used format specifiers are:

• %s for strings
• %b for bools
• %i for ints
• %f for floats
• %A for pretty-printing tuples, records and union types
• %O for other objects, using ToString()

These six will probably meet most of your basic needs.

The % character on its own will cause an error. To escape it, just double it up:

printfn "unescaped: %" // error
printfn "escape: %%"

When formatting fixed width columns and tables, you need to have control of the alignment and width.

You can do that with the “width” and “flags” options.

• %5s, %5i. A number sets the width of the value
• %*s, %*i. A star sets the width of the value dynamically (from an extra parameter just before the param to format)
• %-s, %-i. A hyphen left justifies the value.

Here are some examples of these in use:

let rows = [ (1,"a"); (-22,"bb"); (333,"ccc"); (-4444,"dddd") ]

// no alignment
for (i,s) in rows do
    printfn "|%i|%s|" i s

// with alignment
for (i,s) in rows do
    printfn "|%5i|%5s|" i s

// with left alignment for column 2
for (i,s) in rows do
    printfn "|%5i|%-5s|" i s

// with dynamic column width=20 for column 1
for (i,s) in rows do
    printfn "|%*i|%-5s|" 20 i s

// with dynamic column width for column 1 and column 2
for (i,s) in rows do
    printfn "|%*i|%-*s|" 20 i 10 s

There are some special options for basic integer types:

• %i or %d for signed ints
• %u for unsigned ints
• %x and %X for lowercase and uppercase hex
• %o for octal

Here are some examples:

printfn "signed8: %i unsigned8: %u" -1y -1y
printfn "signed16: %i unsigned16: %u" -1s -1s
printfn "signed32: %i unsigned32: %u" -1 -1
printfn "signed64: %i unsigned64: %u" -1L -1L
printfn "uppercase hex: %X lowercase hex: %x octal: %o" 255 255 255
printfn "byte: %i " 'A'B

The specifiers do not enforce any type safety within the integer types. As you can see from the examples above, you can pass a signed int to an unsigned specifier without problems. What is different is how it is formatted. The unsigned specifiers treat the int as unsigned no matter how it is actually typed.

Note that BigInteger is not a basic integer type, so you must format it with %A or %O.

printfn "bigInt: %i " 123456789I  // Error
printfn "bigInt: %A " 123456789I  // OK

You can control the formatting of signs and zero padding using the flags:

• %0i pads with zeros
• %+i shows a plus sign
• % i shows a blank in place of a plus sign

Here are some examples:

let rows = [ (1,"a"); (-22,"bb"); (333,"ccc"); (-4444,"dddd") ]

// with alignment
for (i,s) in rows do
    printfn "|%5i|%5s|" i s

// with plus signs
for (i,s) in rows do
    printfn "|%+5i|%5s|" i s

// with zero pad
for (i,s) in rows do
    printfn "|%0+5i|%5s|" i s

// with left align
for (i,s) in rows do
    printfn "|%-5i|%5s|" i s

// with left align and plus
for (i,s) in rows do
    printfn "|%+-5i|%5s|" i s

// with left align and space instead of plus
for (i,s) in rows do
    printfn "|% -5i|%5s|" i s

For floating point types, there are also some special options:

• %f for standard format
• %e or %E for exponential format
• %g or %G for the more compact of f and e.
• %M for decimals

Here are some examples:

let pi = 3.14
printfn "float: %f exponent: %e compact: %g" pi pi pi

let petabyte = pown 2.0 50
printfn "float: %f exponent: %e compact: %g" petabyte petabyte petabyte

The decimal type can be used with the floating point specifiers, but you might lose some precision. The %M specifier can be used to ensure that no precision is lost. You can see the difference with this example:

let largeM = 123456789.123456789M  // a decimal
printfn "float: %f decimal: %M" largeM largeM

You can control the precision of floats using a precision specification, such as %.2f and %.4f. For the %f and %e specifiers, the precision affects the number of digits after the decimal point, while for %g it is the number of digits in total. Here’s an example:

printfn "2 digits precision: %.2f. 4 digits precision: %.4f." 123.456789 123.456789
// output => 2 digits precision: 123.46. 4 digits precision: 123.4568.
printfn "2 digits precision: %.2e. 4 digits precision: %.4e." 123.456789 123.456789
// output => 2 digits precision: 1.23e+002. 4 digits precision: 1.2346e+002.
printfn "2 digits precision: %.2g. 4 digits precision: %.4g." 123.456789 123.456789
// output => 2 digits precision: 1.2e+02. 4 digits precision: 123.5.

The alignment and width flags work for floats and decimals as well.

printfn "|%f|" pi     // normal
printfn "|%10f|" pi   // width
printfn "|%010f|" pi  // zero-pad
printfn "|%-10f|" pi  // left aligned
printfn "|%0-10f|" pi // left zero-pad

There are two special format specifiers that allow to you pass in a function rather than just a simple value.

• %t expects a function that outputs some text with no input
• %a expects a function that outputs some text from a given input

Here’s an example of using %t:

open System.IO

//define the function
let printHello (tw:TextWriter) = tw.Write("hello")

//test it
printfn "custom function: %t" printHello

Obviously, since the callback function takes no parameters, it will probably be a closure that does reference some other value. Here’s an example that prints random numbers:

open System
open System.IO

//define the function using a closure
let printRand =
    let rand = new Random()
    // return the actual printing function
    fun (tw:TextWriter) -> tw.Write(rand.Next(1,100))

//test it
for i in [1..5] do
    printfn "rand = %t" printRand

For the %a specifier, the callback function takes an extra parameter. That is, when using the %a specifier, you must pass in both a function and a value to format.

Here’s an example of custom formatting a tuple:

open System
open System.IO

//define the callback function
//note that the data parameter comes after the TextWriter
let printLatLong (tw:TextWriter) (lat,long) =
    tw.Write("lat:{0} long:{1}", lat, long)

// test it
let latLongs = [ (1,2); (3,4); (5,6)]
for latLong  in latLongs  do
    // function and value both passed in to printfn
    printfn "latLong = %a" printLatLong latLong

There are no special format specifiers for dates in F#.

If you want to format dates, you have a couple of options:

• Use ToString to convert the date into a string, and then use the %s specifier
• Use a custom callback function with the %a specifier as described above

Here are the two approaches in use:

// function to format a date
let yymmdd1 (date:DateTime) = date.ToString("yy.MM.dd")

// function to format a date onto a TextWriter
let yymmdd2 (tw:TextWriter) (date:DateTime) = tw.Write("{0:yy.MM.dd}", date)

// test it
for i in [1..5] do
    let date = DateTime.Now.AddDays(float i)

    // using %s
    printfn "using ToString = %s" (yymmdd1 date)

    // using %a
    printfn "using a callback = %a" yymmdd2 date

Which approach is better?

The ToString with %s is easier to test and use, but it will be less efficient than writing directly to a TextWriter.

There are a number of variants of printf functions. Here is a quick guide:

All of these except bprintf and the kXXX family are automatically available (via Microsoft.FSharp.Core.ExtraTopLevelOperators). But if you need to access them using a module, they are in the Printf module.

The usage of these should be obvious (except for the kXXX family, of which more below).

A particularly useful technique is to use partial application to “bake in” a TextWriter or StringBuilder.

Here is an example using a StringBuilder:

let printToSb s i =
    let sb = new System.Text.StringBuilder()

    // use partial application to fix the StringBuilder
    let myPrint format = Printf.bprintf sb format

    do myPrint "A string: %s. " s
    do myPrint "An int: %i" i

    //get the result
    sb.ToString()

// test
printToSb "hello" 42

And here is an example using a TextWriter:

open System
open System.IO

let printToFile filename s i =
    let myDocsPath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments)
    let fullPath = Path.Combine(myDocsPath, filename)
    use sw = new StreamWriter(path=fullPath)

    // use partial application to fix the TextWriter
    let myPrint format = fprintf sw format

    do myPrint "A string: %s. " s
    do myPrint "An int: %i" i

    //get the result
    sw.Close()

// test
printToFile "myfile.txt" "hello" 42

Note that in both cases above, we had to pass a format parameter when creating the partial application.

That is, we had to do:

let myPrint format = fprintf sw format

rather than the point-free version:

let myPrint  = fprintf sw

This stops the compiler complaining about an incorrect type. The reason why is non-obvious. We briefly mentioned the TextWriterFormat above as the first parameter to printf. It turns out that printf is not actually a particular function, like String.Format, but rather a generic function that has to be parameterized with a TextWriterFormat (or the similar StringFormat) in order to become “real”.

So, to be safe, it is best to always pair a printf with a format parameter, rather than being overly aggressive with the partial application.

The four kXXX functions are similar to their cousins, except that they take an extra parameter – a continuation. That is, a function to be called immediately after the formatting has been done.

Here’s a simple snippet:

let doAfter s =
    printfn "Done"
    // return the result
    s

let result = Printf.ksprintf doAfter "%s" "Hello"

Why would you want this? A number of reasons:

• You can pass the result to another function that does something useful, such as a logging framework
• You can do things such as flushing the TextWriter
• You can raise an event

Let’s look at a sample that uses a external logging framework plus custom events.

First, let’s create a simple logging class along the lines of log4net or System.Diagnostics.Trace. In practice, this would be replaced by a real third-party library.

open System
open System.IO

// a logging library such as log4net
// or System.Diagnostics.Trace
type Logger(name) =

    let currentTime (tw:TextWriter) =
        tw.Write("{0:s}",DateTime.Now)

    let logEvent level msg =
        printfn "%t %s [%s] %s" currentTime level name msg

    member this.LogInfo msg =
        logEvent "INFO" msg

    member this.LogError msg =
        logEvent "ERROR" msg

    static member CreateLogger name =
        new Logger(name)

Next in my application code, I do the following:

• Create an instance of the logging framework. I’ve hard-coded the factory method here, but you could also use an IoC container.
• Create helper functions called logInfo and logError that call the logging framework, and in the case of logError, show a popup message as well.

// my application code
module MyApplication =

    let logger = Logger.CreateLogger("MyApp")

    // create a logInfo using the Logger class
    let logInfo format =
        let doAfter s =
            logger.LogInfo(s)
        Printf.ksprintf doAfter format

    // create a logError using the Logger class
    let logError format =
        let doAfter s =
            logger.LogError(s)
            System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(s) |> ignore
        Printf.ksprintf doAfter format

    // function to exercise the logging
    let test() =
        do logInfo "Message #%i" 1
        do logInfo "Message #%i" 2
        do logError "Oops! an error occurred in my app"

Finally, when we run the test function, we should get the message written to the console, and also see the popup message:

MyApplication.test()

You could also create an object-oriented version of the helper methods by creating a “FormattingLogger” wrapper class around the logging library, as shown below.

type FormattingLogger(name) =

    let logger = Logger.CreateLogger(name)

    // create a logInfo using the Logger class
    member this.logInfo format =
        let doAfter s =
            logger.LogInfo(s)
        Printf.ksprintf doAfter format

    // create a logError using the Logger class
    member this.logError format =
        let doAfter s =
            logger.LogError(s)
            System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(s) |> ignore
        Printf.ksprintf doAfter format

    static member createLogger name =
        new FormattingLogger(name)

// my application code
module MyApplication2 =

    let logger = FormattingLogger.createLogger("MyApp2")

    let test() =
        do logger.logInfo "Message #%i" 1
        do logger.logInfo "Message #%i" 2
        do logger.logError "Oops! an error occurred in app 2"

// test
MyApplication2.test()

The object-oriented approach, although more familiar, is not automatically better! The pros and cons of OO methods vs. pure functions are discussed here.