NAME
    Text::sprintfn - Drop-in replacement for sprintf(), with named parameter
    support

VERSION
    version 0.02

SYNOPSIS
     use Text::sprintfn; # by default exports sprintfn() and printfn()

     printfn("<%2d> <%(foo)-(bar).2f> <%0$04d>", {foo=>1, bar=>5}, 3, 42);
     # < 3> <1.00 > <0003>

     print sprintf "<%-4d>", 123; # no hash provided, acts like normal sprintf()
     # <123 >

DESCRIPTION
    This module provides sprintfn() and printfn(), which are like sprintf()
    and printf(), with the exception that they support named parameters from
    a hash.

    There exist other CPAN modules for string formatting with named
    parameter support, but this one focuses on interface simplicity and
    sprintf compatibility since most people are already familiar with it and
    it has several features.

FUNCTIONS
  sprintfn FORMAT, HASH_ARG, OTHER_ARG, ...
    If first argument after format is not a hash, sprintfn() will behave
    exactly like sprintf().

    If HASH_ARG is given, sprintfn() will look for named parameters in
    argument and supply the values from the hash. Named parameters are
    surrounded with parentheses, i.e. "(NAME)". They can occur in format
    parameter index:

     %2$d        # sprintf version, take argument at index 2
     %(two)d     # $ is optional
     %(two)$d    # same

    or in width:

     %-10d       # sprintf version, use (minimum) width of 10
     %-(width)d  # like sprintf, but use width from hash key 'width'
     %(var)-(width)d  # format hash key 'var' with width from hash key 'width'

    or in precision:

     %6.2f       # sprintf version, use precision of 2 decimals
     %6.(prec)f  # like sprintf, but use precision from hash key 'prec'
     %(width).(prec)f
     %(var)(width).(prec)f

    The existence of formats using hash keys will not affect indexes of the
    rest of the argument, example:

     sprintfn "<%(v1)s> <%2$d> <%d>", {v1=>10}, 0, 1, 2; # "<10> <2> <0>"

    Like sprintf(), if format is unknown/erroneous, it will be printed
    as-is.

    There is currently no way to escape ")" in named parameter, e.g.:

     %(var containing ))s

  printfn
    Equivalent to "print sprintf(@_)".

TIPS AND TRICKS
  Common mistake 1
    Writing

     %(var)

    instead of

     %(var)s

  Common mistake 2 (a bit more newbish)
    Writing

     sprintf $format, %hash, ...;

    instead of

     sprintf $format, \%hash, ...;

  Alternative hashes
    You have several hashes (%h1, %h2, %h3) which should be consulted for
    values. You can either merge the hash first:

     %h = (%h1, %h2, %h3); # or one of several available module for hash merging
     printfn $format, \%h, ...;

    or create a tied hash which can consult hashes for you:

     tie %h, 'Your::Module', \%h1, \%h2, \%h3;
     printfn $format, \%h, ...;

IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
    Currently every format will be converted using a separate sprintf()
    invocation. So "<%d> <%(var)s> <%.(var2)f>" will result in three calls.

SEE ALSO
    sprintf() section on perlfunc

    String::Flogger

    String::Formatter

    Text::Sprintf::Named

AUTHOR
    Steven Haryanto <stevenharyanto@gmail.com>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
    This software is copyright (c) 2011 by Steven Haryanto.

    This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
    the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

