_printf

Introduction

This project involves creating a custom implementation of the _printf function that generates formatted output based on a given format string. The function is designed to mimic the behavior of the standard C library function printf. The _printf function is responsible for writing the formatted output to the standard output stream, also known as stdout. The goal of this project is to create a flexible and efficient implementation of _printf that can handle various input formats and produce the expected output.

Function Prototype

The prototype for the custom _printf function is as follows:

int _printf(const char *format, ...);

Return value

The _printf function returns an integer, representing the total number of characters printed (excluding the null byte used to terminate strings). If an error occurs during the execution of _printf, it returns a negative value.

Supported Conversion Specifiers

The format string provided to the function contains zero or more directives, each corresponding to a specific conversion specifier. The supported conversion specifiers in this project are:

• %c: Character - Output a single character.
• %s: String - Output a null-terminated string.
• %%: Percent sign - Output a literal '%' character.
• %d and %i: Integer - Outputs a signed decimal integer.

For each conversion specifier encountered in the format string, the _printf function processes the input arguments accordingly and writes the formatted result to stdout.

How to use

1. Compile the source code

gcc -Wall -Wextra -Werror -pedantic -std=gnu89 -Wno-format *.c

2. Include the custom main.h header file in your C source files:

#include "main.h"

3. Use the _printf function in your code, just like the standard printf.

int main() {
    _printf("Hello, %s! The answer is %d.\n", "user", 42);
    return 0;
}

Example

int main(void)
{
	int len;

    len = _printf("Let's try to printf a simple sentence.\n");
    return 0;
}

Output:

Let's try to printf a simple sentence.