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A message file consists of a first line which only contains a number - the number of messages in the file. This is followed by as many messages. Messages may be separated by blank lines or comment lines as desired.

A comment line is any line which does not contain a colon ":".

A message is defined by the following syntax.

General Format Syntax

The syntax of a format descriptor is defined as follows :-

Selectors

A selector (which is a number followed by a colon) should be numbered from 1 upwards, appearing in any order in the message string format descriptors. The provision of this facility indicates by number which of the arguments to the formatting routines is to be used for which format descriptor. An example of the use of selectors is given in the first example below.

Restrictions

The following general restrictions on the use of format descriptors are as follows :-

Examples

In the examples below spaces in the output string are indicated by a low line for clarity only.

NOTES

  1. Hash characters indicate padding only if the value field when represented contains fewer characters than that indicated by the number of hash/anchor, etc chars.
  2. Any numeric (or other) value rounding due to precision limitations is defined by the class which is being represented, not by the formatting classes.
  3. The presence of a filling specification does not occupy any character positions in the formatted string representation.

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Comments or enquiries should be made to Keith Hopper .
Page last modified: Tuesday, 16 May 2000.
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