How to use C++ std::ostream with printf-like formatting?

Question

I am learning C++. cout is an instance of std::ostream class. How can I print a formatted string with it?

I can still use printf

Answer 1

I suggest using ostringstream instead of ostream see following example :

#include 
#include 
#include 
#include "CppUnitTest.h"

#define _CRT_NO_VA_START_VALIDATION

std::string format(const std::string& format, ...)
{
    va_list args;
    va_start(args, format);
    size_t len = std::vsnprintf(NULL, 0, format.c_str(), args);
    va_end(args);
    std::vector vec(len + 1);
    va_start(args, format);
    std::vsnprintf(&vec[0], len + 1, format.c_str(), args);
    va_end(args);
    return &vec[0];
}

example usage:

std::ostringstream ss;
ss << format("%s => %d", "Version", Version) << std::endl;
Logger::WriteMessage(ss.str().c_str()); // write to unit test output
std::cout << ss.str() << std::endl; // write to standard output