From: nobu.nokada@...
Date: 2002-04-14T22:55:14+09:00
Subject: Re: RCR: key value mapping for sprintf/%

Hi,

At Sun, 14 Apr 2002 19:01:56 +0900,
Guy N. Hurst <gnhurst@hurstlinks.com> wrote:
> In Ruby, we have format strings, but they only accept a fixed
> number of arguments, and are substituted in the order they are provided.
> 
> "This is first: %s, and this is 2nd: %s" % ['one','two']

Not only in the order.

  p "This is second: %2$s, and this is 1st: %1$s" % %w[one two]
  => "This is second: two, and this is 1st: one"

> But python allows something like this for the format string:
> 
> ftext = "%(name)s is %(gender)s. %(name)s is %(age)2d years old"

While ago I made this patch, using Symbols as keys of the hash.
You can find it in [ruby-dev:16351], but it's rejected.

  ftext = "%(name)s is %(gender)s. %(name)s is %(age)2d years old"
  hash = {:gender=>"male", :name=>"Fred", :age=>23}
  ftext % hash  # "Fred is male. Fred is 23 years old"

-- 
Nobu Nakada