FREEBSD::STRINGF(3)

💅 FREEBSD::STRINGF 💅

okay so bestie, welcome to the freebsd::stringf manual page — that's the one from section 3 of the Library Functions Manual, and yeah she's living in libutil++ 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

freebsd::stringf — build a std::string using stdio formatting. that's it, that's the whole vibe. you hand it a format string, it hands you back a shiny C++ string. icon behaviour fr fr 🦋

📚 LIBRARY 📚

you're gonna need library “libutil++”. she's the whole personality here 💖

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <libutil++.hh>

std::string
freebsd::stringf(const char *fmt, ...);

std::string
freebsd::stringf(const char *fmt, va_list ap);

two whole overloads, bestie. two. we love options 💅

🫶 DESCRIPTION 🫶

so these functions construct a std::string object containing a formatted string — like, they literally build the string for you, no cap ✨

the output of the string is dictated by the fmt argument and additional arguments using the same conventions documented in printf(3). so all your classic printf muscle memory? still valid. go off 👑

• the first form provides functionality similar to asprintf(3) — the variadic one, the one you just call directly 💫
• the second form is similar to vasprintf(3) — the va_list one, for when you're already inside a variadic function and passing that ap along 🧚

🔥 RETURN VALUES 🔥

these functions return a std::string object. that's the whole sentence. she returns a string. slay 💜

😭 EXCEPTIONS 😭

bestie these functions may throw one of the following exceptions — pay attention, this part matters:

• std::bad_alloc — failed to allocate memory. the allocator said no 💀
• std::length_error — the result would exceed the maximum possible string size. too much string. too much power. 🙈

ngl if you're catching, catch both. length_error is giving "you asked for too much" and bad_alloc is giving "there's nothing left to give" 😭

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

the canonical one-liner, straight up:

std::string s = freebsd::stringf("hello %s", "world");

look at her go. s is now "hello world" and you didn't even break a sweat ⭐

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• asprintf(3) — the cousin, the origin story, the blueprint 🎀

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and that's the page, bestie!! this one's brought to you by Debian, dated July 31, 2025, and filed under FREEBSD::STRINGF(3) in the Library Functions Manual — go forth and format responsibly, ily 🫶💖✨