WRITEF - FORMATTED WRITE UTILITY



writef(Format)


        Formatted write.  Equivalent to 'writef(Format,[])'.


writef(Format,List)


        Formatted  write.    Format  is an atom whose characters will be
        output.  Format may contain certain special character  sequences
        which   specify  certain  formatting  actions.    The  following
        sequences  result  in  particular  (otherwise   hard   to   use)
        characters being output.


            '\n'  --  <NL> is output
            '\l'  --  <LF> is output
            '\r'  --  <CR> is output
            '\t'  --  <TAB> is output
            '\\'  --  The character "\" is output
            '\%'  --  The character "%" is output
            '\nnn' -  where nnn is an integer (1-3 digits)
                      the character with ASCII code nnn is output
                      (NB : nnn is read as DECIMAL)


        The  next  set  of special sequences specify that items be taken
        from the List and output in some way.  List, then, provides  all
        the  actual  terms  that are required to be output, while Format
        specifies where and how this is to occur.


            '%t'  --  print the next item (mnemonic: term)
            '%w'  --  write the next item
            '%q'  --  writeq the next item
            '%d'  --  display the next item
            '%p'  --  print the next item (identical to %t)
            '%l'  --  output the next item using prlist
            '%c'  --  output the next item using prconj
            '%e'  --  output the next item using prexpr
            '%n'  --  put the next item as a character (ie it is
                             an iNteger)
            '%r'  --  write the next item N times where N is the
                            second item (an integer)
            '%f'  --  perform a ttyflush (no items used)


        The following examples may help to explain the use of writef.


            writef('Hello there\n\n')
            writef('%t is a %t\n',[Person,Property])
            writef('Input : %l \nBecomes : %e\n \7',[In,Out])