ocaml/stdlib/format.mli

(***********************************************************************)
(*                                                                     *)
(*                                OCaml                                *)
(*                                                                     *)
(*            Pierre Weis, projet Cristal, INRIA Rocquencourt          *)
(*                                                                     *)
(*  Copyright 1996 Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et   *)
(*  en Automatique.  All rights reserved.  This file is distributed    *)
(*  under the terms of the GNU Library General Public License, with    *)
(*  the special exception on linking described in file ../LICENSE.     *)
(*                                                                     *)
(***********************************************************************)

(** Pretty printing.

   This module implements a pretty-printing facility to format values
   within 'pretty-printing boxes'. The pretty-printer splits lines
   at specified break hints, and indents lines according to the box
   structure.

   For a gentle introduction to the basics of pretty-printing using
   [Format], read
   {{:http://caml.inria.fr/resources/doc/guides/format.en.html}
    http://caml.inria.fr/resources/doc/guides/format.en.html}.

   You may consider this module as providing an extension to the
   [printf] facility to provide automatic line splitting. The addition of
   pretty-printing annotations to your regular [printf] formats gives you
   fancy indentation and line breaks.
   Pretty-printing annotations are described below in the documentation of
   the function {!Format.fprintf}.

   You may also use the explicit box management and printing functions
   provided by this module. This style is more basic but more verbose
   than the [fprintf] concise formats.

   For instance, the sequence
   [open_box 0; print_string "x ="; print_space ();
    print_int 1; close_box (); print_newline ()]
   that prints [x = 1] within a pretty-printing box, can be
   abbreviated as [printf "@[%s@ %i@]@." "x =" 1], or even shorter
   [printf "@[x =@ %i@]@." 1].

   Rule of thumb for casual users of this library:
 - use simple boxes (as obtained by [open_box 0]);
 - use simple break hints (as obtained by [print_cut ()] that outputs a
   simple break hint, or by [print_space ()] that outputs a space
   indicating a break hint);
 - once a box is opened, display its material with basic printing
   functions (e. g. [print_int] and [print_string]);
 - when the material for a box has been printed, call [close_box ()] to
   close the box;
 - at the end of your routine, flush the pretty-printer to display all the
   remaining material, e.g. evaluate [print_newline ()].

   The behaviour of pretty-printing commands is unspecified
   if there is no opened pretty-printing box. Each box opened via
   one of the [open_] functions below must be closed using [close_box]
   for proper formatting. Otherwise, some of the material printed in the
   boxes may not be output, or may be formatted incorrectly.

   In case of interactive use, the system closes all opened boxes and
   flushes all pending text (as with the [print_newline] function)
   after each phrase. Each phrase is therefore executed in the initial
   state of the pretty-printer.

   Warning: the material output by the following functions is delayed
   in the pretty-printer queue in order to compute the proper line
   splitting. Hence, you should not mix calls to the printing functions
   of the basic I/O system with calls to the functions of this module:
   this could result in some strange output seemingly unrelated with
   the evaluation order of printing commands.
*)

(** {6 Boxes} *)

val open_box : int -> unit
(** [open_box d] opens a new pretty-printing box
   with offset [d].

   This box prints material as much as possible on every line.

   A break hint splits the line if there is no more room on the line to
   print the remainder of the box.
   A break hint also splits the line if the splitting ``moves to the left''
   (i.e. it gives an indentation smaller than the one of the current line).

   This box is the general purpose pretty-printing box.

   If the pretty-printer splits the line in the box, offset [d] is added to
   the current indentation. *)

val close_box : unit -> unit
(** Closes the most recently opened pretty-printing box. *)

(** {6 Formatting functions} *)

val print_string : string -> unit
(** [print_string str] prints [str] in the current box. *)

val print_as : int -> string -> unit
(** [print_as len str] prints [str] in the
   current box. The pretty-printer formats [str] as if
   it were of length [len]. *)

val print_int : int -> unit
(** Prints an integer in the current box. *)

val print_float : float -> unit
(** Prints a floating point number in the current box. *)

val print_char : char -> unit
(** Prints a character in the current box. *)

val print_bool : bool -> unit
(** Prints a boolean in the current box. *)

(** {6 Break hints} *)

(** A 'break hint' tells the pretty-printer to output some space or split the
  line whichever way is more appropriate to the current box splitting rules.

  Break hints are used to separate printing items and are mandatory to let
  the pretty-printer correctly split lines and indent items.

  Simple break hints are:
  - the 'space': output a space or split the line if appropriate,
  - the 'cut': split the line if appropriate.

  Note: the notions of space and line splitting are abstract for the
  pretty-printing engine, since those notions can be completely defined
  by the programmer.
  However, in the pretty-printer default setting, ``output a space'' simply
  means printing a space character (ASCII code 32) and ``split the line''
  is printing a newline character (ASCII code 10).

*)

val print_space : unit -> unit
(** [print_space ()] the 'space' break hint:
  the pretty-printer may split the line at this
  point, otherwise it prints one space.
  It is equivalent to [print_break 1 0]. *)

val print_cut : unit -> unit
(** [print_cut ()] the 'cut' break hint:
  the pretty-printer may split the line at this
  point, otherwise it prints nothing.
  It is equivalent to [print_break 0 0]. *)

val print_break : int -> int -> unit
(** [print_break nspaces offset] the 'full' break hint:
  the pretty-printer may split the line at this
  point, otherwise it prints [nspaces] spaces.

  If the pretty-printer splits the line, [offset] is added to
  the current indentation.
*)

val print_flush : unit -> unit
(** Flushes the pretty printer: all opened boxes are closed,
  and all pending text is displayed. *)

val print_newline : unit -> unit
(** Equivalent to [print_flush] followed by a new line. *)

val force_newline : unit -> unit
(** Forces a new line in the current box.
  Not the normal way of pretty-printing, since the new line does not reset
  the current line count.
  You should prefer using break hints within a vertcal box. *)

val print_if_newline : unit -> unit
(** Executes the next formatting command if the preceding line
  has just been split. Otherwise, ignore the next formatting
  command. *)

(** {6 Margin} *)

val set_margin : int -> unit
(** [set_margin d] sets the right margin to [d] (in characters):
  the pretty-printer splits lines that overflow the right margin according to
  the break hints given.
  Nothing happens if [d] is smaller than 2.
  If [d] is too large, the right margin is set to the maximum
  admissible value (which is greater than [10^9]). *)

val get_margin : unit -> int
(** Returns the position of the right margin. *)

(** {6 Maximum indentation limit} *)

val set_max_indent : int -> unit
(** [set_max_indent d] sets the maximum indentation limit of lines to [d] (in
  characters):
  once this limit is reached, new boxes are rejected to the left,
  if they do not fit on the current line.
  Nothing happens if [d] is smaller than 2.
  If [d] is too large, the limit is set to the maximum
  admissible value (which is greater than [10 ^ 9]). *)

val get_max_indent : unit -> int
(** Return the maximum indentation limit (in characters). *)

(** {6 Formatting depth: maximum number of boxes allowed before ellipsis} *)

val set_max_boxes : int -> unit
(** [set_max_boxes max] sets the maximum number of boxes simultaneously
  opened.
  Material inside boxes nested deeper is printed as an ellipsis (more
  precisely as the text returned by [get_ellipsis_text ()]).
  Nothing happens if [max] is smaller than 2. *)

val get_max_boxes : unit -> int
(** Returns the maximum number of boxes allowed before ellipsis. *)

val over_max_boxes : unit -> bool
(** Tests if the maximum number of boxes allowed have already been opened. *)

(** {6 Advanced formatting} *)

val open_hbox : unit -> unit
(** [open_hbox ()] opens a new 'horizontal' pretty-printing box.

  This box prints material on a single line.

  Break hints in a horizontal box never split the line.
  (Line splitting may still occur inside boxes nested deeper). *)

val open_vbox : int -> unit
(** [open_vbox d] opens a new 'vertical' pretty-printing box
  with offset [d].

  This box prints material on as many lines as break hints in the box.

  Every break hint in a vertical box splits the line.

  If the pretty-printer splits the line in the box, [d] is added to the
  current indentation. *)

val open_hvbox : int -> unit
(** [open_hvbox d] opens a new 'horizontal-vertical' pretty-printing box
  with offset [d].

  This box behaves as an horizontal box if it fits on a single line,
  otherwise it behaves as a vertical box.

  If the pretty-printer splits the line in the box, [d] is added to the
  current indentation. *)

val open_hovbox : int -> unit
(** [open_hovbox d] opens a new 'horizontal-or-vertical' pretty-printing box
  with offset [d].

  This box prints material as much as possible on every line.

  A break hint splits the line if there is no more room on the line to
  print the remainder of the box.

  If the pretty-printer splits the line in the box, [d] is added to the
  current indentation. *)

(** {6 Ellipsis} *)

val set_ellipsis_text : string -> unit
(** Set the text of the ellipsis printed when too many boxes
  are opened (a single dot, [.], by default). *)

val get_ellipsis_text : unit -> string
(** Return the text of the ellipsis. *)

(** {6:tags Semantics Tags} *)

type tag = string

(** {i Semantics tags} (or simply {e tags}) are used to decorate printed
  entities for user's defined purposes, e.g. setting font and giving size
  indications for a display device, or marking delimitation of semantics
  entities (e.g. HTML or TeX elements or terminal escape sequences).

  By default, those tags do not influence line splitting calculation:
  the tag 'markers' are not considered as part of the printing
  material that drives line splitting (in other words, the length of
  those strings is considered as zero for line splitting).

  Thus, tag handling is in some sense transparent to pretty-printing
  and does not interfere with usual indentation. Hence, a single
  pretty printing routine can output both simple 'verbatim'
  material or richer decorated output depending on the treatment of
  tags. By default, tags are not active, hence the output is not
  decorated with tag information. Once [set_tags] is set to [true],
  the pretty printer engine honours tags and decorates the output
  accordingly.

  When a tag has been opened (or closed), it is both and successively
  'printed' and 'marked'. Printing a tag means calling a
  formatter specific function with the name of the tag as argument:
  that 'tag printing' function can then print any regular material
  to the formatter (so that this material is enqueued as usual in the
  formatter queue for further line splitting computation). Marking a
  tag means to output an arbitrary string (the 'tag marker'),
  directly into the output device of the formatter. Hence, the
  formatter specific 'tag marking' function must return the tag
  marker string associated to its tag argument. Being flushed
  directly into the output device of the formatter, tag marker
  strings are not considered as part of the printing material that
  drives line splitting (in other words, the length of the strings
  corresponding to tag markers is considered as zero for line
  splitting). In addition, advanced users may take advantage of
  the specificity of tag markers to be precisely output when the
  pretty printer has already decided where to splitt the lines, and
  precisely when the queue is flushed into the output device.

  In the spirit of HTML tags, the default tag marking functions
  output tags enclosed in "<" and ">": hence, the opening marker of
  tag [t] is ["<t>"] and the closing marker ["</t>"].

  Default tag printing functions just do nothing.

  Tag marking and tag printing functions are user definable and can
  be set by calling [set_formatter_tag_functions]. *)

val open_tag : tag -> unit
(** [open_tag t] opens the tag named [t]; the [print_open_tag]
  function of the formatter is called with [t] as argument;
  the tag marker [mark_open_tag t] will be flushed into the output
  device of the formatter. *)

val close_tag : unit -> unit
(** [close_tag ()] closes the most recently opened tag [t].
  In addition, the [print_close_tag] function of the formatter is called
  with [t] as argument. The marker [mark_close_tag t] will be flushed
  into the output device of the formatter. *)

val set_tags : bool -> unit
(** [set_tags b] turns on or off the treatment of tags (default is off). *)

val set_print_tags : bool -> unit
(** [set_print_tags b] turns on or off the printing of tags. *)

val set_mark_tags : bool -> unit
(** [set_mark_tags b] turns on or off the output of tag markers. *)

val get_print_tags : unit -> bool
(** Return the current status of tags printing. *)

val get_mark_tags : unit -> bool
(** Return the current status of tags marking. *)

(** {6 Redirecting the standard formatter output} *)

val set_formatter_out_channel : Pervasives.out_channel -> unit
(** Redirect the pretty-printer output to the given channel.
  (All the output functions of the standard formatter are set to the
   default output functions printing to the given channel.) *)

val set_formatter_output_functions :
  (string -> int -> int -> unit) -> (unit -> unit) -> unit
(** [set_formatter_output_functions out flush] redirects the
  pretty-printer output functions to the functions [out] and
  [flush].

  The [out] function performs all the pretty-printer string output.
  It is called with a string [s], a start position [p], and a number of
  characters [n]; it is supposed to output characters [p] to [p + n - 1] of
  [s].

  The [flush] function is called whenever the pretty-printer is flushed
  (via conversion [%!], or pretty-printing indications [@?] or [@.], or
  using low level functions [print_flush] or [print_newline]). *)

val get_formatter_output_functions :
  unit -> (string -> int -> int -> unit) * (unit -> unit)
(** Return the current output functions of the pretty-printer. *)

(** {6:meaning Changing the meaning of standard formatter pretty printing} *)

(** The [Format] module is versatile enough to let you completely redefine
  the meaning of pretty printing: you may provide your own functions to define
  how to handle indentation, line splitting, and even printing of all the
  characters that have to be printed! *)

type formatter_out_functions = {
  out_string : string -> int -> int -> unit;
  out_flush : unit -> unit;
  out_newline : unit -> unit;
  out_spaces : int -> unit;
}

val set_formatter_out_functions : formatter_out_functions -> unit
(** [set_formatter_out_functions f]
  Redirect the pretty-printer output to the functions [f.out_string]
  and [f.out_flush] as described in
  [set_formatter_output_functions]. In addition, the pretty-printer function
  that outputs a newline is set to the function [f.out_newline] and
  the function that outputs indentation spaces is set to the function
  [f.out_spaces].

  This way, you can change the meaning of indentation (which can be
  something else than just printing space characters) and the meaning of new
  lines opening (which can be connected to any other action needed by the
  application at hand). The two functions [f.out_spaces] and [f.out_newline]
  are normally connected to [f.out_string] and [f.out_flush]: respective
  default values for [f.out_space] and [f.out_newline] are
  [f.out_string (String.make n ' ') 0 n] and [f.out_string "\n" 0 1]. *)

val get_formatter_out_functions : unit -> formatter_out_functions
(** Return the current output functions of the pretty-printer,
  including line splitting and indentation functions. Useful to record the
  current setting and restore it afterwards. *)

(** {6:tagsmeaning Changing the meaning of printing semantics tags} *)

type formatter_tag_functions = {
  mark_open_tag : tag -> string;
  mark_close_tag : tag -> string;
  print_open_tag : tag -> unit;
  print_close_tag : tag -> unit;
}
(** The tag handling functions specific to a formatter:
  [mark] versions are the 'tag marking' functions that associate a string
  marker to a tag in order for the pretty-printing engine to flush
  those markers as 0 length tokens in the output device of the formatter.
  [print] versions are the 'tag printing' functions that can perform
  regular printing when a tag is closed or opened. *)

val set_formatter_tag_functions : formatter_tag_functions -> unit
(** [set_formatter_tag_functions tag_funs] changes the meaning of
  opening and closing tags to use the functions in [tag_funs].

  When opening a tag name [t], the string [t] is passed to the
  opening tag marking function (the [mark_open_tag] field of the
  record [tag_funs]), that must return the opening tag marker for
  that name. When the next call to [close_tag ()] happens, the tag
  name [t] is sent back to the closing tag marking function (the
  [mark_close_tag] field of record [tag_funs]), that must return a
  closing tag marker for that name.

  The [print_] field of the record contains the functions that are
  called at tag opening and tag closing time, to output regular
  material in the pretty-printer queue. *)

val get_formatter_tag_functions : unit -> formatter_tag_functions
(** Return the current tag functions of the pretty-printer. *)

(** {6 Multiple formatted output} *)

type formatter
(** Abstract data corresponding to a pretty-printer (also called a
  formatter) and all its machinery.

  Defining new pretty-printers permits unrelated output of material in
  parallel on several output channels.
  All the parameters of a pretty-printer are local to a formatter:
  margin, maximum indentation limit, maximum number of boxes
  simultaneously opened, ellipsis, and so on, are specific to
  each pretty-printer and may be fixed independently.
  Given a [Pervasives.out_channel] output channel [oc], a new formatter
  writing to that channel is simply obtained by calling
  [formatter_of_out_channel oc].
  Alternatively, the [make_formatter] function allocates a new
  formatter with explicit output and flushing functions
  (convenient to output material to strings for instance).
*)

val formatter_of_out_channel : out_channel -> formatter
(** [formatter_of_out_channel oc] returns a new formatter that
  writes to the corresponding channel [oc]. *)

val std_formatter : formatter
(** The standard formatter used by the formatting functions
  above. It is defined as [formatter_of_out_channel stdout]. *)

val err_formatter : formatter
(** A formatter to use with formatting functions below for
  output to standard error. It is defined as
  [formatter_of_out_channel stderr]. *)

val formatter_of_buffer : Buffer.t -> formatter
(** [formatter_of_buffer b] returns a new formatter writing to
  buffer [b]. As usual, the formatter has to be flushed at
  the end of pretty printing, using [pp_print_flush] or
  [pp_print_newline], to display all the pending material. *)

val stdbuf : Buffer.t
(** The string buffer in which [str_formatter] writes. *)

val str_formatter : formatter
(** A formatter to use with formatting functions below for
  output to the [stdbuf] string buffer.
  [str_formatter] is defined as [formatter_of_buffer stdbuf]. *)

val flush_str_formatter : unit -> string
(** Returns the material printed with [str_formatter], flushes
  the formatter and resets the corresponding buffer. *)

val make_formatter :
  (string -> int -> int -> unit) -> (unit -> unit) -> formatter
(** [make_formatter out flush] returns a new formatter that writes according
  to the output function [out], and the flushing function [flush]. For
  instance, a formatter to the [Pervasives.out_channel] [oc] is returned by
  [make_formatter (Pervasives.output oc) (fun () -> Pervasives.flush oc)]. *)

(** {6 Basic functions to use with formatters} *)

val pp_open_hbox : formatter -> unit -> unit
val pp_open_vbox : formatter -> int -> unit
val pp_open_hvbox : formatter -> int -> unit
val pp_open_hovbox : formatter -> int -> unit
val pp_open_box : formatter -> int -> unit
val pp_close_box : formatter -> unit -> unit
val pp_open_tag : formatter -> string -> unit
val pp_close_tag : formatter -> unit -> unit
val pp_print_string : formatter -> string -> unit
val pp_print_as : formatter -> int -> string -> unit
val pp_print_int : formatter -> int -> unit
val pp_print_float : formatter -> float -> unit
val pp_print_char : formatter -> char -> unit
val pp_print_bool : formatter -> bool -> unit
val pp_print_break : formatter -> int -> int -> unit
val pp_print_cut : formatter -> unit -> unit
val pp_print_space : formatter -> unit -> unit
val pp_force_newline : formatter -> unit -> unit
val pp_print_flush : formatter -> unit -> unit
val pp_print_newline : formatter -> unit -> unit
val pp_print_if_newline : formatter -> unit -> unit
val pp_set_tags : formatter -> bool -> unit
val pp_set_print_tags : formatter -> bool -> unit
val pp_set_mark_tags : formatter -> bool -> unit
val pp_get_print_tags : formatter -> unit -> bool
val pp_get_mark_tags : formatter -> unit -> bool
val pp_set_margin : formatter -> int -> unit
val pp_get_margin : formatter -> unit -> int
val pp_set_max_indent : formatter -> int -> unit
val pp_get_max_indent : formatter -> unit -> int
val pp_set_max_boxes : formatter -> int -> unit
val pp_get_max_boxes : formatter -> unit -> int
val pp_over_max_boxes : formatter -> unit -> bool
val pp_set_ellipsis_text : formatter -> string -> unit
val pp_get_ellipsis_text : formatter -> unit -> string
val pp_set_formatter_out_channel :
  formatter -> Pervasives.out_channel -> unit

val pp_set_formatter_output_functions :
  formatter -> (string -> int -> int -> unit) -> (unit -> unit) -> unit

val pp_get_formatter_output_functions :
  formatter -> unit -> (string -> int -> int -> unit) * (unit -> unit)

val pp_set_formatter_tag_functions :
  formatter -> formatter_tag_functions -> unit

val pp_get_formatter_tag_functions :
  formatter -> unit -> formatter_tag_functions

val pp_set_formatter_out_functions :
  formatter -> formatter_out_functions -> unit

val pp_get_formatter_out_functions :
  formatter -> unit -> formatter_out_functions
(** These functions are the basic ones: usual functions
   operating on the standard formatter are defined via partial
   evaluation of these primitives. For instance,
   [print_string] is equal to [pp_print_string std_formatter]. *)

(** {6 Convenience formatting functions.} *)

val pp_print_list:
  ?pp_sep:(formatter -> unit -> unit) ->
  (formatter -> 'a -> unit) -> (formatter -> 'a list -> unit)
(** [pp_print_list ?pp_sep pp_v ppf l] prints items of list [l],
  using [pp_v] to print each item, and calling [pp_sep]
  between items ([pp_sep] defaults to {!pp_print_cut}).
  Does nothing on empty lists.

  @since 4.02.0
*)

val pp_print_text : formatter -> string -> unit
(** [pp_print_text ppf s] prints [s] with spaces and newlines
  respectively printed with {!pp_print_space} and
  {!pp_force_newline}.

  @since 4.02.0
*)

(** {6 [printf] like functions for pretty-printing.} *)

val fprintf : formatter -> ('a, formatter, unit) format -> 'a

(** [fprintf ff fmt arg1 ... argN] formats the arguments [arg1] to [argN]
  according to the format string [fmt], and outputs the resulting string on
  the formatter [ff].

  The format [fmt] is a character string which contains three types of
  objects: plain characters and conversion specifications as specified in
  the [Printf] module, and pretty-printing indications specific to the
  [Format] module.

  The pretty-printing indication characters are introduced by
  a [@] character, and their meanings are:
  - [@\[]: open a pretty-printing box. The type and offset of the
    box may be optionally specified with the following syntax:
    the [<] character, followed by an optional box type indication,
    then an optional integer offset, and the closing [>] character.
    Box type is one of [h], [v], [hv], [b], or [hov].
    '[h]' stands for an 'horizontal' box,
    '[v]' stands for a 'vertical' box,
    '[hv]' stands for an 'horizontal-vertical' box,
    '[b]' stands for an 'horizontal-or-vertical' box demonstrating indentation,
    '[hov]' stands a simple 'horizontal-or-vertical' box.
    For instance, [@\[<hov 2>] opens an 'horizontal-or-vertical'
    box with indentation 2 as obtained with [open_hovbox 2].
    For more details about boxes, see the various box opening
    functions [open_*box].
  - [@\]]: close the most recently opened pretty-printing box.
  - [@,]: output a 'cut' break hint, as with [print_cut ()].
  - [@ ]: output a 'space' break hint, as with [print_space ()].
  - [@;]: output a 'full' break hint as with [print_break]. The
    [nspaces] and [offset] parameters of the break hint may be
    optionally specified with the following syntax:
    the [<] character, followed by an integer [nspaces] value,
    then an integer [offset], and a closing [>] character.
    If no parameters are provided, the good break defaults to a
    'space' break hint.
  - [@.]: flush the pretty printer and split the line, as with
    [print_newline ()].
  - [@<n>]: print the following item as if it were of length [n].
    Hence, [printf "@<0>%s" arg] prints [arg] as a zero length string.
    If [@<n>] is not followed by a conversion specification,
    then the following character of the format is printed as if
    it were of length [n].
  - [@\{]: open a tag. The name of the tag may be optionally
    specified with the following syntax:
    the [<] character, followed by an optional string
    specification, and the closing [>] character. The string
    specification is any character string that does not contain the
    closing character ['>']. If omitted, the tag name defaults to the
    empty string.
    For more details about tags, see the functions [open_tag] and
    [close_tag].
  - [@\}]: close the most recently opened tag.
  - [@?]: flush the pretty printer as with [print_flush ()].
    This is equivalent to the conversion [%!].
  - [@\n]: force a newline, as with [force_newline ()], not the normal way
    of pretty-printing, you should prefer using break hints inside a vertical
    box.

  Note: If you need to prevent the interpretation of a [@] character as a
  pretty-printing indication, you must escape it with a [%] character.
  Old quotation mode [@@] is deprecated since it is not compatible with
  formatted input interpretation of character ['@'].

  Example: [printf "@[%s@ %d@]@." "x =" 1] is equivalent to
  [open_box (); print_string "x ="; print_space ();
   print_int 1; close_box (); print_newline ()].
  It prints [x = 1] within a pretty-printing 'horizontal-or-vertical' box.

*)

val printf : ('a, formatter, unit) format -> 'a
(** Same as [fprintf] above, but output on [std_formatter]. *)

val eprintf : ('a, formatter, unit) format -> 'a
(** Same as [fprintf] above, but output on [err_formatter]. *)

val sprintf : ('a, unit, string) format -> 'a
(** Same as [printf] above, but instead of printing on a formatter,
  returns a string containing the result of formatting the arguments.
  Note that the pretty-printer queue is flushed at the end of {e each
  call} to [sprintf].

  In case of multiple and related calls to [sprintf] to output
  material on a single string, you should consider using [fprintf]
  with the predefined formatter [str_formatter] and call
  [flush_str_formatter ()] to get the final result.

  Alternatively, you can use [Format.fprintf] with a formatter writing to a
  buffer of your own: flushing the formatter and the buffer at the end of
  pretty-printing returns the desired string.
*)

val asprintf : ('a, formatter, unit, string) format4 -> 'a
(** Same as [printf] above, but instead of printing on a formatter,
  returns a string containing the result of formatting the arguments.
  The type of [asprintf] is general enough to interact nicely with [%a]
  conversions.
  @since 4.01.0
*)

val ifprintf : formatter -> ('a, formatter, unit) format -> 'a
(** Same as [fprintf] above, but does not print anything.
  Useful to ignore some material when conditionally printing.
  @since 3.10.0
*)

(** Formatted output functions with continuations. *)

val kfprintf :
  (formatter -> 'a) -> formatter ->
  ('b, formatter, unit, 'a) format4 -> 'b
(** Same as [fprintf] above, but instead of returning immediately,
  passes the formatter to its first argument at the end of printing. *)

val ikfprintf :
  (formatter -> 'a) -> formatter ->
  ('b, formatter, unit, 'a) format4 -> 'b
(** Same as [kfprintf] above, but does not print anything.
  Useful to ignore some material when conditionally printing.
  @since 3.12.0
*)

val ksprintf : (string -> 'a) -> ('b, unit, string, 'a) format4 -> 'b
(** Same as [sprintf] above, but instead of returning the string,
  passes it to the first argument. *)

val kasprintf : (string -> 'a) -> ('b, formatter, unit, 'a) format4 -> 'b
(** Same as [asprintf] above, but instead of returning the string,
  passes it to the first argument.
  @since 4.03
*)

(** {6 Deprecated} *)

val bprintf : Buffer.t -> ('a, formatter, unit) format -> 'a
  [@@ocaml.deprecated]
(** @deprecated This function is error prone. Do not use it.

  If you need to print to some buffer [b], you must first define a
  formatter writing to [b], using [let to_b = formatter_of_buffer b]; then
  use regular calls to [Format.fprintf] on formatter [to_b]. *)

val kprintf : (string -> 'a) -> ('b, unit, string, 'a) format4 -> 'b
  [@@ocaml.deprecated "Use Format.ksprintf instead."]
(** @deprecated An alias for [ksprintf]. *)

val set_all_formatter_output_functions :
  out:(string -> int -> int -> unit) ->
  flush:(unit -> unit) ->
  newline:(unit -> unit) ->
  spaces:(int -> unit) ->
  unit
[@@ocaml.deprecated "Use Format.set_formatter_out_functions instead."]
(** @deprecated Subsumed by [set_formatter_out_functions]. *)

val get_all_formatter_output_functions :
  unit ->
  (string -> int -> int -> unit) *
  (unit -> unit) *
  (unit -> unit) *
  (int -> unit)
[@@ocaml.deprecated "Use Format.get_formatter_out_functions instead."]
(** @deprecated Subsumed by [get_formatter_out_functions]. *)

val pp_set_all_formatter_output_functions :
  formatter -> out:(string -> int -> int -> unit) -> flush:(unit -> unit) ->
  newline:(unit -> unit) -> spaces:(int -> unit) -> unit
[@@ocaml.deprecated "Use Format.pp_set_formatter_out_functions instead."]
(** @deprecated Subsumed by [pp_set_formatter_out_functions]. *)

val pp_get_all_formatter_output_functions :
  formatter -> unit ->
  (string -> int -> int -> unit) * (unit -> unit) * (unit -> unit) *
  (int -> unit)
[@@ocaml.deprecated "Use Format.pp_get_formatter_out_functions instead."]
(** @deprecated Subsumed by [pp_get_formatter_out_functions]. *)

(** Tabulation boxes are deprecated. *)

val pp_open_tbox : formatter -> unit -> unit
[@@ocaml.deprecated "Tabulation boxes are not supported any more."]
(** @deprecated since 4.03.0 *)

val pp_close_tbox : formatter -> unit -> unit
[@@ocaml.deprecated "Tabulation boxes are not supported any more."]
(** @deprecated since 4.03.0 *)

val pp_print_tbreak : formatter -> int -> int -> unit
[@@ocaml.deprecated "Tabulation boxes are not supported any more."]
(** @deprecated since 4.03.0 *)

val pp_set_tab : formatter -> unit -> unit
[@@ocaml.deprecated "Tabulation boxes are not supported any more."]
(** @deprecated since 4.03.0 *)

val pp_print_tab : formatter -> unit -> unit
[@@ocaml.deprecated "Tabulation boxes are not supported any more."]
(** @deprecated since 4.03.0 *)

val open_tbox : unit -> unit
[@@ocaml.deprecated "Tabulation boxes are not supported any more."]
(** @deprecated since 4.03.0 *)

val close_tbox : unit -> unit
[@@ocaml.deprecated "Tabulation boxes are not supported any more."]
(** @deprecated since 4.03.0 *)

val print_tbreak : int -> int -> unit
[@@ocaml.deprecated "Tabulation boxes are not supported any more."]
(** @deprecated since 4.03.0 *)

val set_tab : unit -> unit
[@@ocaml.deprecated "Tabulation boxes are not supported any more."]
(** @deprecated since 4.03.0 *)

val print_tab : unit -> unit
[@@ocaml.deprecated "Tabulation boxes are not supported any more."]
(** @deprecated since 4.03.0 *)