Created: 2023-08-16 16:08
Status: #concept
Subject: Programming
Tags: C Strings stdio.h

Conversion Specifier

They help us specify how the compiler will transform Expressions into Strings, notably their:

m Minimum Field Width, the characters the string occupies
.p Precision of the decimal points
X C Data Type (main conversion specifier that you'll use)

`%m.pX`

here m is the Minimum Field Width.
.p is the Precision of the decimal points.
X is the Conversion Specifier to be printed like d, f, c.
we may also add a - before m to make the minimum field width left-justified.

printf("%10.2f\n", 3.142f);
printf("%10.2f\n", 12.69f);

/*** OUTPUT ***/
------3.14
-----12.69

printf("%-10.2f\n", 3.142f);
printf("%-10.2f\n", 12.69f);

/*** OUTPUT ***/
3.14------
12.69-----

References

C Programming, A Modern Approach, 2nd Edition, Chapter 3.