commit 9c18854a0f3609515d8fb0a8d01c0021b666a948
Author: Willem Jan Palenstijn <wjp@usecode.org>
Date:   Mon May 11 01:06:08 2009 +0200

    Add Common::String::printf to format a string

diff --git a/common/module.mk b/common/module.mk
index bdf9590..fb145cb 100644
--- a/common/module.mk
+++ b/common/module.mk
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ MODULE_OBJS := \
 	memorypool.o \
 	md5.o \
 	mutex.o \
+	printf.o \
 	str.o \
 	stream.o \
 	util.o \
diff --git a/common/printf.cpp b/common/printf.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f788b4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/printf.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,599 @@
+/*
+ * The code in this file is a slightly modified version of
+ * snprintf.c from the snprintf package from Mark Martinec, available at
+ * http://www.ijs.si/software/snprintf/
+ *
+ * Quoting that webpage:
+ * ==
+ * This program is free software; it is dual licensed,
+ * the terms of the "Frontier Artistic License" or the
+ * "GNU General Public License" can be chosen at your discretion.
+ * The chosen license then applies solely and in its entirety
+ * ==
+ *
+ * The modifications to the source consist of only using the
+ * snprintf function, without the various related functions, and
+ * replacing the output manipulation functions fast_memcpy and fast_memset
+ * with String-specific functions.
+ */
+
+
+
+
+
+
+/*
+ * snprintf.c - a portable implementation of snprintf
+ *
+ * AUTHOR
+ *   Mark Martinec <mark.martinec@ijs.si>, April 1999.
+ *
+ *   Copyright 1999, Mark Martinec. All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * TERMS AND CONDITIONS
+ *   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ *   it under the terms of the "Frontier Artistic License" which comes
+ *   with this Kit.
+ *
+ *   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ *   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty
+ *   of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+ *   See the Frontier Artistic License for more details.
+ *
+ *   You should have received a copy of the Frontier Artistic License
+ *   with this Kit in the file named LICENSE.txt .
+ *   If not, I'll be glad to provide one.
+ *
+ * FEATURES
+ * - careful adherence to specs regarding flags, field width and precision;
+ * - good performance for large string handling (large format, large
+ *   argument or large paddings). Performance is similar to system's sprintf
+ *   and in several cases significantly better (make sure you compile with
+ *   optimizations turned on, tell the compiler the code is strict ANSI
+ *   if necessary to give it more freedom for optimizations);
+ * - return value semantics per ISO/IEC 9899:1999 ("ISO C99");
+ * - written in standard ISO/ANSI C - requires an ANSI C compiler.
+ *
+ * SUPPORTED CONVERSION SPECIFIERS AND DATA TYPES
+ *
+ * This snprintf only supports the following conversion specifiers:
+ * s, c, d, u, o, x, X, p  (and synonyms: i, D, U, O - see below)
+ * with flags: '-', '+', ' ', '0' and '#'.
+ * An asterisk is supported for field width as well as precision.
+ *
+ * Length modifiers 'h' (short int), 'l' (long int),
+ * and 'll' (long long int) are supported.
+ * NOTE:
+ *   If macro SNPRINTF_LONGLONG_SUPPORT is not defined (default) the
+ *   length modifier 'll' is recognized but treated the same as 'l',
+ *   which may cause argument value truncation! Defining
+ *   SNPRINTF_LONGLONG_SUPPORT requires that your system's sprintf also
+ *   handles length modifier 'll'.  long long int is a language extension
+ *   which may not be portable.
+ *
+ * Conversion of numeric data (conversion specifiers d, u, o, x, X, p)
+ * with length modifiers (none or h, l, ll) is left to the system routine
+ * sprintf, but all handling of flags, field width and precision as well as
+ * c and s conversions is done very carefully by this portable routine.
+ * If a string precision (truncation) is specified (e.g. %.8s) it is
+ * guaranteed the string beyond the specified precision will not be referenced.
+ *
+ * Length modifiers h, l and ll are ignored for c and s conversions (data
+ * types wint_t and wchar_t are not supported).
+ *
+ * The following common synonyms for conversion characters are supported:
+ *   - i is a synonym for d
+ *   - D is a synonym for ld, explicit length modifiers are ignored
+ *   - U is a synonym for lu, explicit length modifiers are ignored
+ *   - O is a synonym for lo, explicit length modifiers are ignored
+ * The D, O and U conversion characters are nonstandard, they are supported
+ * for backward compatibility only, and should not be used for new code.
+ *
+ * The following is specifically NOT supported:
+ *   - flag ' (thousands' grouping character) is recognized but ignored
+ *   - numeric conversion specifiers: f, e, E, g, G and synonym F,
+ *     as well as the new a and A conversion specifiers
+ *   - length modifier 'L' (long double) and 'q' (quad - use 'll' instead)
+ *   - wide character/string conversions: lc, ls, and nonstandard
+ *     synonyms C and S
+ *   - writeback of converted string length: conversion character n
+ *   - the n$ specification for direct reference to n-th argument
+ *   - locales
+ *
+ * It is permitted for str_m to be zero, and it is permitted to specify NULL
+ * pointer for resulting string argument if str_m is zero (as per ISO C99).
+ *
+ * [...] 
+ * 
+ * AVAILABILITY
+ *   http://www.ijs.si/software/snprintf/
+ *
+ */
+
+#include "common/str.h"
+
+namespace Common {
+
+
+#ifdef isdigit
+#undef isdigit
+#endif
+#define isdigit(c) ((c) >= '0' && (c) <= '9')
+
+#define SNPRINTF_LONGLONG_SUPPORT
+
+void String::appendChars(char c, uint32 n)
+{
+	if (n == 0)
+		return;
+
+	ensureCapacity(_size + n, true);
+	for (uint i = 0; i < n; ++i)
+		_str[_size++] = c;
+	_str[_size] = 0;
+}
+
+void String::appendSubstring(const char *s, uint32 n)
+{
+	if (n == 0)
+		return;
+
+	ensureCapacity(_size + n, true);
+	memcpy(_str + _size, s, n);
+	_size += n;
+	_str[_size] = 0;
+}
+
+String String::printf(const char *fmt, /*args*/ ...) {
+  va_list ap;
+
+  size_t str_l = 0;
+  const char *p = fmt;
+  String output;
+
+/* In contrast with POSIX, the ISO C99 now says
+ * that str can be NULL and str_m can be 0.
+ * This is more useful than the old:  if (str_m < 1) return -1; */
+
+  va_start(ap, fmt);
+
+  if (!p) p = "";
+  while (*p) {
+    if (*p != '%') {
+   /* if (str_l < str_m) str[str_l++] = *p++;    -- this would be sufficient */
+   /* but the following code achieves better performance for cases
+    * where format string is long and contains few conversions */
+      const char *q = strchr(p+1,'%');
+      size_t n = !q ? strlen(p) : (q-p);
+      output.appendSubstring(p, n);
+      p += n; str_l += n;
+    } else {
+      const char *starting_p;
+      size_t min_field_width = 0, precision = 0;
+      int zero_padding = 0, precision_specified = 0, justify_left = 0;
+      int alternate_form = 0, force_sign = 0;
+      int space_for_positive = 1; /* If both the ' ' and '+' flags appear,
+                                     the ' ' flag should be ignored. */
+      char length_modifier = '\0';            /* allowed values: \0, h, l, L */
+      char tmp[32];/* temporary buffer for simple numeric->string conversion */
+
+      const char *str_arg;      /* string address in case of string argument */
+      size_t str_arg_l;         /* natural field width of arg without padding
+                                   and sign */
+      unsigned char uchar_arg;
+        /* unsigned char argument value - only defined for c conversion.
+           N.B. standard explicitly states the char argument for
+           the c conversion is unsigned */
+
+      size_t number_of_zeros_to_pad = 0;
+        /* number of zeros to be inserted for numeric conversions
+           as required by the precision or minimal field width */
+
+      size_t zero_padding_insertion_ind = 0;
+        /* index into tmp where zero padding is to be inserted */
+
+      char fmt_spec = '\0';
+        /* current conversion specifier character */
+
+      str_arg = NULL;
+      starting_p = p; p++;  /* skip '%' */
+   /* parse flags */
+      while (*p == '0' || *p == '-' || *p == '+' ||
+             *p == ' ' || *p == '#' || *p == '\'') {
+        switch (*p) {
+        case '0': zero_padding = 1; break;
+        case '-': justify_left = 1; break;
+        case '+': force_sign = 1; space_for_positive = 0; break;
+        case ' ': force_sign = 1;
+     /* If both the ' ' and '+' flags appear, the ' ' flag should be ignored */
+#ifdef PERL_COMPATIBLE
+     /* ... but in Perl the last of ' ' and '+' applies */
+                  space_for_positive = 1;
+#endif
+                  break;
+        case '#': alternate_form = 1; break;
+        case '\'': break;
+        }
+        p++;
+      }
+   /* If the '0' and '-' flags both appear, the '0' flag should be ignored. */
+
+   /* parse field width */
+      if (*p == '*') {
+        int j;
+        p++; j = va_arg(ap, int);
+        if (j >= 0) min_field_width = j;
+        else { min_field_width = -j; justify_left = 1; }
+      } else if (isdigit((int)(*p))) {
+        /* size_t could be wider than unsigned int;
+           make sure we treat argument like common implementations do */
+        unsigned int uj = *p++ - '0';
+        while (isdigit((int)(*p))) uj = 10*uj + (unsigned int)(*p++ - '0');
+        min_field_width = uj;
+      }
+   /* parse precision */
+      if (*p == '.') {
+        p++; precision_specified = 1;
+        if (*p == '*') {
+          int j = va_arg(ap, int);
+          p++;
+          if (j >= 0) precision = j;
+          else {
+            precision_specified = 0; precision = 0;
+         /* NOTE:
+          *   Solaris 2.6 man page claims that in this case the precision
+          *   should be set to 0.  Digital Unix 4.0, HPUX 10 and BSD man page
+          *   claim that this case should be treated as unspecified precision,
+          *   which is what we do here.
+          */
+          }
+        } else if (isdigit((int)(*p))) {
+          /* size_t could be wider than unsigned int;
+             make sure we treat argument like common implementations do */
+          unsigned int uj = *p++ - '0';
+          while (isdigit((int)(*p))) uj = 10*uj + (unsigned int)(*p++ - '0');
+          precision = uj;
+        }
+      }
+   /* parse 'h', 'l' and 'll' length modifiers */
+      if (*p == 'h' || *p == 'l') {
+        length_modifier = *p; p++;
+        if (length_modifier == 'l' && *p == 'l') {   /* double l = long long */
+#ifdef SNPRINTF_LONGLONG_SUPPORT
+          length_modifier = '2';                  /* double l encoded as '2' */
+#else
+          length_modifier = 'l';                 /* treat it as a single 'l' */
+#endif
+          p++;
+        }
+      }
+      fmt_spec = *p;
+   /* common synonyms: */
+      switch (fmt_spec) {
+      case 'i': fmt_spec = 'd'; break;
+      case 'D': fmt_spec = 'd'; length_modifier = 'l'; break;
+      case 'U': fmt_spec = 'u'; length_modifier = 'l'; break;
+      case 'O': fmt_spec = 'o'; length_modifier = 'l'; break;
+      default: break;
+      }
+   /* get parameter value, do initial processing */
+      switch (fmt_spec) {
+      case '%': /* % behaves similar to 's' regarding flags and field widths */
+      case 'c': /* c behaves similar to 's' regarding flags and field widths */
+      case 's':
+        length_modifier = '\0';          /* wint_t and wchar_t not supported */
+     /* the result of zero padding flag with non-numeric conversion specifier*/
+     /* is undefined. Solaris and HPUX 10 does zero padding in this case,    */
+     /* Digital Unix and Linux does not. */
+#if !defined(SOLARIS_COMPATIBLE) && !defined(HPUX_COMPATIBLE)
+        zero_padding = 0;    /* turn zero padding off for string conversions */
+#endif
+        str_arg_l = 1;
+        switch (fmt_spec) {
+        case '%':
+          str_arg = p; break;
+        case 'c': {
+          int j = va_arg(ap, int);
+          uchar_arg = (unsigned char) j;   /* standard demands unsigned char */
+          str_arg = (const char *) &uchar_arg;
+          break;
+        }
+        case 's':
+          str_arg = va_arg(ap, const char *);
+          if (!str_arg) str_arg_l = 0;
+       /* make sure not to address string beyond the specified precision !!! */
+          else if (!precision_specified) str_arg_l = strlen(str_arg);
+       /* truncate string if necessary as requested by precision */
+          else if (precision == 0) str_arg_l = 0;
+          else {
+       /* memchr on HP does not like n > 2^31  !!! */
+            const char *q = (const char*)memchr(str_arg, '\0',
+                             precision <= 0x7fffffff ? precision : 0x7fffffff);
+            str_arg_l = !q ? precision : (q-str_arg);
+          }
+          break;
+        default: break;
+        }
+        break;
+      case 'd': case 'u': case 'o': case 'x': case 'X': case 'p': {
+        /* NOTE: the u, o, x, X and p conversion specifiers imply
+                 the value is unsigned;  d implies a signed value */
+
+        int arg_sign = 0;
+          /* 0 if numeric argument is zero (or if pointer is NULL for 'p'),
+            +1 if greater than zero (or nonzero for unsigned arguments),
+            -1 if negative (unsigned argument is never negative) */
+
+        int int_arg = 0;  unsigned int uint_arg = 0;
+          /* only defined for length modifier h, or for no length modifiers */
+
+        long int long_arg = 0;  unsigned long int ulong_arg = 0;
+          /* only defined for length modifier l */
+
+        void *ptr_arg = NULL;
+          /* pointer argument value -only defined for p conversion */
+
+#ifdef SNPRINTF_LONGLONG_SUPPORT
+        long long int long_long_arg = 0;
+        unsigned long long int ulong_long_arg = 0;
+          /* only defined for length modifier ll */
+#endif
+        if (fmt_spec == 'p') {
+        /* HPUX 10: An l, h, ll or L before any other conversion character
+         *   (other than d, i, u, o, x, or X) is ignored.
+         * Digital Unix:
+         *   not specified, but seems to behave as HPUX does.
+         * Solaris: If an h, l, or L appears before any other conversion
+         *   specifier (other than d, i, u, o, x, or X), the behavior
+         *   is undefined. (Actually %hp converts only 16-bits of address
+         *   and %llp treats address as 64-bit data which is incompatible
+         *   with (void *) argument on a 32-bit system).
+         */
+#ifdef SOLARIS_COMPATIBLE
+#  ifdef SOLARIS_BUG_COMPATIBLE
+          /* keep length modifiers even if it represents 'll' */
+#  else
+          if (length_modifier == '2') length_modifier = '\0';
+#  endif
+#else
+          length_modifier = '\0';
+#endif
+          ptr_arg = va_arg(ap, void *);
+          if (ptr_arg != NULL) arg_sign = 1;
+        } else if (fmt_spec == 'd') {  /* signed */
+          switch (length_modifier) {
+          case '\0':
+          case 'h':
+         /* It is non-portable to specify a second argument of char or short
+          * to va_arg, because arguments seen by the called function
+          * are not char or short.  C converts char and short arguments
+          * to int before passing them to a function.
+          */
+            int_arg = va_arg(ap, int);
+            if      (int_arg > 0) arg_sign =  1;
+            else if (int_arg < 0) arg_sign = -1;
+            break;
+          case 'l':
+            long_arg = va_arg(ap, long int);
+            if      (long_arg > 0) arg_sign =  1;
+            else if (long_arg < 0) arg_sign = -1;
+            break;
+#ifdef SNPRINTF_LONGLONG_SUPPORT
+          case '2':
+            long_long_arg = va_arg(ap, long long int);
+            if      (long_long_arg > 0) arg_sign =  1;
+            else if (long_long_arg < 0) arg_sign = -1;
+            break;
+#endif
+          }
+        } else {  /* unsigned */
+          switch (length_modifier) {
+          case '\0':
+          case 'h':
+            uint_arg = va_arg(ap, unsigned int);
+            if (uint_arg) arg_sign = 1;
+            break;
+          case 'l':
+            ulong_arg = va_arg(ap, unsigned long int);
+            if (ulong_arg) arg_sign = 1;
+            break;
+#ifdef SNPRINTF_LONGLONG_SUPPORT
+          case '2':
+            ulong_long_arg = va_arg(ap, unsigned long long int);
+            if (ulong_long_arg) arg_sign = 1;
+            break;
+#endif
+          }
+        }
+        str_arg = tmp; str_arg_l = 0;
+     /* NOTE:
+      *   For d, i, u, o, x, and X conversions, if precision is specified,
+      *   the '0' flag should be ignored. This is so with Solaris 2.6,
+      *   Digital UNIX 4.0, HPUX 10, Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD; but not with Perl.
+      */
+#ifndef PERL_COMPATIBLE
+        if (precision_specified) zero_padding = 0;
+#endif
+        if (fmt_spec == 'd') {
+          if (force_sign && arg_sign >= 0)
+            tmp[str_arg_l++] = space_for_positive ? ' ' : '+';
+         /* leave negative numbers for sprintf to handle,
+            to avoid handling tricky cases like (short int)(-32768) */
+#ifdef LINUX_COMPATIBLE
+        } else if (fmt_spec == 'p' && force_sign && arg_sign > 0) {
+          tmp[str_arg_l++] = space_for_positive ? ' ' : '+';
+#endif
+        } else if (alternate_form) {
+          if (arg_sign != 0 && (fmt_spec == 'x' || fmt_spec == 'X') )
+            { tmp[str_arg_l++] = '0'; tmp[str_arg_l++] = fmt_spec; }
+         /* alternate form should have no effect for p conversion, but ... */
+#ifdef HPUX_COMPATIBLE
+          else if (fmt_spec == 'p'
+         /* HPUX 10: for an alternate form of p conversion,
+          *          a nonzero result is prefixed by 0x. */
+#ifndef HPUX_BUG_COMPATIBLE
+         /* Actually it uses 0x prefix even for a zero value. */
+                   && arg_sign != 0
+#endif
+                  ) { tmp[str_arg_l++] = '0'; tmp[str_arg_l++] = 'x'; }
+#endif
+        }
+        zero_padding_insertion_ind = str_arg_l;
+        if (!precision_specified) precision = 1;   /* default precision is 1 */
+        if (precision == 0 && arg_sign == 0
+#if defined(HPUX_BUG_COMPATIBLE) || defined(LINUX_COMPATIBLE)
+            && fmt_spec != 'p'
+         /* HPUX 10 man page claims: With conversion character p the result of
+          * converting a zero value with a precision of zero is a null string.
+          * Actually HP returns all zeroes, and Linux returns "(nil)". */
+#endif
+        ) {
+         /* converted to null string */
+         /* When zero value is formatted with an explicit precision 0,
+            the resulting formatted string is empty (d, i, u, o, x, X, p).   */
+        } else {
+          char f[5]; int f_l = 0;
+          f[f_l++] = '%';    /* construct a simple format string for sprintf */
+          if (!length_modifier) { }
+          else if (length_modifier=='2') { f[f_l++] = 'l'; f[f_l++] = 'l'; }
+          else f[f_l++] = length_modifier;
+          f[f_l++] = fmt_spec; f[f_l++] = '\0';
+          if (fmt_spec == 'p') str_arg_l += sprintf(tmp+str_arg_l, f, ptr_arg);
+          else if (fmt_spec == 'd') {  /* signed */
+            switch (length_modifier) {
+            case '\0':
+            case 'h': str_arg_l+=sprintf(tmp+str_arg_l, f, int_arg);  break;
+            case 'l': str_arg_l+=sprintf(tmp+str_arg_l, f, long_arg); break;
+#ifdef SNPRINTF_LONGLONG_SUPPORT
+            case '2': str_arg_l+=sprintf(tmp+str_arg_l,f,long_long_arg); break;
+#endif
+            }
+          } else {  /* unsigned */
+            switch (length_modifier) {
+            case '\0':
+            case 'h': str_arg_l+=sprintf(tmp+str_arg_l, f, uint_arg);  break;
+            case 'l': str_arg_l+=sprintf(tmp+str_arg_l, f, ulong_arg); break;
+#ifdef SNPRINTF_LONGLONG_SUPPORT
+            case '2': str_arg_l+=sprintf(tmp+str_arg_l,f,ulong_long_arg);break;
+#endif
+            }
+          }
+         /* include the optional minus sign and possible "0x"
+            in the region before the zero padding insertion point */
+          if (zero_padding_insertion_ind < str_arg_l &&
+              tmp[zero_padding_insertion_ind] == '-') {
+            zero_padding_insertion_ind++;
+          }
+          if (zero_padding_insertion_ind+1 < str_arg_l &&
+              tmp[zero_padding_insertion_ind]   == '0' &&
+             (tmp[zero_padding_insertion_ind+1] == 'x' ||
+              tmp[zero_padding_insertion_ind+1] == 'X') ) {
+            zero_padding_insertion_ind += 2;
+          }
+        }
+        { size_t num_of_digits = str_arg_l - zero_padding_insertion_ind;
+          if (alternate_form && fmt_spec == 'o'
+#ifdef HPUX_COMPATIBLE                                  /* ("%#.o",0) -> ""  */
+              && (str_arg_l > 0)
+#endif
+#ifdef DIGITAL_UNIX_BUG_COMPATIBLE                      /* ("%#o",0) -> "00" */
+#else
+              /* unless zero is already the first character */
+              && !(zero_padding_insertion_ind < str_arg_l
+                   && tmp[zero_padding_insertion_ind] == '0')
+#endif
+          ) {        /* assure leading zero for alternate-form octal numbers */
+            if (!precision_specified || precision < num_of_digits+1) {
+             /* precision is increased to force the first character to be zero,
+                except if a zero value is formatted with an explicit precision
+                of zero */
+              precision = num_of_digits+1; precision_specified = 1;
+            }
+          }
+       /* zero padding to specified precision? */
+          if (num_of_digits < precision) 
+            number_of_zeros_to_pad = precision - num_of_digits;
+        }
+     /* zero padding to specified minimal field width? */
+        if (!justify_left && zero_padding) {
+          int n = min_field_width - (str_arg_l+number_of_zeros_to_pad);
+          if (n > 0) number_of_zeros_to_pad += n;
+        }
+        break;
+      }
+      default: /* unrecognized conversion specifier, keep format string as-is*/
+        zero_padding = 0;  /* turn zero padding off for non-numeric convers. */
+#ifndef DIGITAL_UNIX_COMPATIBLE
+        justify_left = 1; min_field_width = 0;                /* reset flags */
+#endif
+#if defined(PERL_COMPATIBLE) || defined(LINUX_COMPATIBLE)
+     /* keep the entire format string unchanged */
+        str_arg = starting_p; str_arg_l = p - starting_p;
+     /* well, not exactly so for Linux, which does something inbetween,
+      * and I don't feel an urge to imitate it: "%+++++hy" -> "%+y"  */
+#else
+     /* discard the unrecognized conversion, just keep *
+      * the unrecognized conversion character          */
+        str_arg = p; str_arg_l = 0;
+#endif
+        if (*p) str_arg_l++;  /* include invalid conversion specifier unchanged
+                                 if not at end-of-string */
+        break;
+      }
+      if (*p) p++;      /* step over the just processed conversion specifier */
+   /* insert padding to the left as requested by min_field_width;
+      this does not include the zero padding in case of numerical conversions*/
+      if (!justify_left) {                /* left padding with blank or zero */
+        int n = min_field_width - (str_arg_l+number_of_zeros_to_pad);
+        if (n > 0) {
+          output.appendChars((zero_padding?'0':' '), n);
+          str_l += n;
+        }
+      }
+   /* zero padding as requested by the precision or by the minimal field width
+    * for numeric conversions required? */
+      if (number_of_zeros_to_pad <= 0) {
+     /* will not copy first part of numeric right now, *
+      * force it to be copied later in its entirety    */
+        zero_padding_insertion_ind = 0;
+      } else {
+     /* insert first part of numerics (sign or '0x') before zero padding */
+        int n = zero_padding_insertion_ind;
+        if (n > 0) {
+          output.appendSubstring(str_arg, n);
+          str_l += n;
+        }
+     /* insert zero padding as requested by the precision or min field width */
+        n = number_of_zeros_to_pad;
+        if (n > 0) {
+          output.appendChars('0', n);
+          str_l += n;
+        }
+      }
+   /* insert formatted string
+    * (or as-is conversion specifier for unknown conversions) */
+      { int n = str_arg_l - zero_padding_insertion_ind;
+        if (n > 0) {
+          output.appendSubstring(str_arg+zero_padding_insertion_ind, n);
+          str_l += n;
+        }
+      }
+   /* insert right padding */
+      if (justify_left) {          /* right blank padding to the field width */
+        int n = min_field_width - (str_arg_l+number_of_zeros_to_pad);
+        if (n > 0) {
+          output.appendChars(' ', n);
+          str_l += n;
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  va_end(ap);
+
+  return output;
+}
+
+
+}	// End of namespace Common
+
diff --git a/common/str.h b/common/str.h
index b7dbd65..a1a04e0 100644
--- a/common/str.h
+++ b/common/str.h
@@ -218,6 +218,25 @@ public:
 
 	uint hash() const;
 
+	/**
+	 * Printf-like function. Returns a formatted String.
+	 */
+	static Common::String printf(const char *fmt, ...);
+
+protected:
+	/**
+	 * Helper function for printf:
+	 * Append the first n characters from s.
+	 * s is assumed to be long enough.
+	 */
+	void appendSubstring(const char *s, uint32 n);
+
+	/**
+	 * Helper function for printf:
+	 * Append n copies of c.
+	 */
+	void appendChars(char c, uint32 n);
+
 public:
 	typedef char *        iterator;
 	typedef const char *  const_iterator;
diff --git a/dists/msvc8/scummvm.vcproj b/dists/msvc8/scummvm.vcproj
index 27e37ad..45ff1fd 100644
--- a/dists/msvc8/scummvm.vcproj
+++ b/dists/msvc8/scummvm.vcproj
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@
 			<File RelativePath="..\..\common\noncopyable.h" />
 			<File RelativePath="..\..\common\pack-end.h" />
 			<File RelativePath="..\..\common\pack-start.h" />
+			<File RelativePath="..\..\common\printf.cpp" />
 			<File RelativePath="..\..\common\ptr.h" />
 			<File RelativePath="..\..\common\queue.h" />
 			<File RelativePath="..\..\common\rect.h" />
diff --git a/dists/msvc9/scummvm.vcproj b/dists/msvc9/scummvm.vcproj
index edcf9c4..9040fe1 100644
--- a/dists/msvc9/scummvm.vcproj
+++ b/dists/msvc9/scummvm.vcproj
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@
 			<File RelativePath="..\..\common\noncopyable.h" />
 			<File RelativePath="..\..\common\pack-end.h" />
 			<File RelativePath="..\..\common\pack-start.h" />
+			<File RelativePath="..\..\common\printf.cpp" />
 			<File RelativePath="..\..\common\ptr.h" />
 			<File RelativePath="..\..\common\queue.h" />
 			<File RelativePath="..\..\common\rect.h" />
diff --git a/test/common/str.h b/test/common/str.h
index bf0db98..a860946 100644
--- a/test/common/str.h
+++ b/test/common/str.h
@@ -285,4 +285,10 @@ class StringTestSuite : public CxxTest::TestSuite
 		TS_ASSERT(!Common::matchString("monkey.s99",  "monkey.s*1"));
 		TS_ASSERT(Common::matchString("monkey.s101", "monkey.s*1"));
 	}
+
+	void test_string_printf() {
+		TS_ASSERT( Common::String::printf("%s", "test") == "test" );
+		TS_ASSERT( Common::String::printf("%s.s%.02d", "monkey", 1) == "monkey.s01" );
+		TS_ASSERT( Common::String::printf("%s%X", "test", 1234) == "test4D2" );
+	}
 };
