vsnprintf_s
, _vsnprintf_s
, _vsnprintf_s_l
, _vsnwprintf_s
, _vsnwprintf_s_l
Write formatted output using a pointer to a list of arguments. These functions are versions of vsnprintf
, _vsnprintf
, _vsnprintf_l
, _vsnwprintf
, _vsnwprintf_l
with security enhancements as described in Security features in the CRT.
Syntax
int vsnprintf_s(
char *buffer,
size_t sizeOfBuffer,
size_t count,
const char *format,
va_list argptr
);
int _vsnprintf_s(
char *buffer,
size_t sizeOfBuffer,
size_t count,
const char *format,
va_list argptr
);
int _vsnprintf_s_l(
char *buffer,
size_t sizeOfBuffer,
size_t count,
const char *format,
_locale_t locale,
va_list argptr
);
int _vsnwprintf_s(
wchar_t *buffer,
size_t sizeOfBuffer,
size_t count,
const wchar_t *format,
va_list argptr
);
int _vsnwprintf_s_l(
wchar_t *buffer,
size_t sizeOfBuffer,
size_t count,
const wchar_t *format,
_locale_t locale,
va_list argptr
);
template <size_t size>
int _vsnprintf_s(
char (&buffer)[size],
size_t count,
const char *format,
va_list argptr
); // C++ only
template <size_t size>
int _vsnwprintf_s(
wchar_t (&buffer)[size],
size_t count,
const wchar_t *format,
va_list argptr
); // C++ only
Parameters
buffer
Storage location for output.
sizeOfBuffer
The size of the buffer
for output. Size in bytes for the functions that take char
, and words for those that take wchar_t
.
count
Maximum number of characters to write not including the terminating NULL
. For the functions that take wchar_t
, it's the number of wide characters to write. Or _TRUNCATE
.
format
Format specification.
argptr
Pointer to list of arguments.
locale
The locale to use when formatting the output.
For more information, see Format specifications.
Return value
The number of characters written, not including the terminating NULL
, or a negative value if an output error occurs.
See Behavior summary for details.
Remarks
vsnprintf_s
is identical to _vsnprintf_s
and is included for conformance to the ANSI standard. _vnsprintf
is retained for backward compatibility.
Each of these functions takes a pointer to an argument list, then formats and writes up to count
characters of the given data to the memory pointed to by buffer
and appends a terminating null.
The versions of these functions with the _l
suffix are identical except that they use the locale parameter passed in instead of the current thread locale.
Behavior summary
For the following table:
- Let
len
be the size of the formatted data. If the function takes achar
buffer, the size is in bytes. If the function takes awchar_t
buffer, the size specifies the number of 16-bit words. - Characters refer to
char
characters for functions that take achar
buffer, and towchar_t
characters for functions that take awchar_t
buffer. - For more information about the invalid parameter handler, see Parameter Validation.
Condition | Behavior | Return value | errno |
Invokes invalid parameter handler |
---|---|---|---|---|
Success | Writes the characters into the buffer using the specified format string | The number of characters written | N/A | No |
Encoding error during formatting | If processing string specifier s , S , or Z , format specification processing stops. |
-1 | EILSEQ (42) |
No |
Encoding error during formatting | If processing character specifier c or C , the invalid character is skipped. The number of characters written isn't incremented for the skipped character, nor is any data written for it. Processing the format specification continues after skipping the specifier with the encoding error. |
The number of characters written, not including the terminating NULL . |
EILSEQ (42) |
No |
buffer == NULL and sizeOfBuffer == 0 and count == 0 |
No data is written. | 0 | N/A | No |
buffer == NULL and either sizeOfBuffer != 0 or count != 0 |
If execution continues after invalid parameter handler executes, sets errno and returns a negative value. |
-1 | EINVAL (22) |
Yes |
buffer != NULL and sizeOfBuffer == 0 |
No data is written. If execution continues after invalid parameter handler executes, sets errno and returns a negative value. |
-1 | EINVAL (22) |
Yes |
count == 0 |
Doesn't write any data and returns the number of characters that would have been written, not including the terminating NULL . |
The number of characters that would have been written not including the terminating NULL . |
N/A | No |
count < 0 |
Unsafe: the value is treated as unsigned, likely creating a large value that results in overwriting the memory that follows the buffer. | The number of characters written, not including the terminating NULL . |
N/A | No |
count < sizeOfBuffer and len <= count |
All of the data is written and a terminating NULL is appended. |
The number of characters written. | N/A | No |
count < sizeOfBuffer and len > count |
The first count characters are written. |
-1 | N/A | No |
count >= sizeOfBuffer and len < sizeOfBuffer |
All of the data is written with a terminating NULL . |
The number of characters written, not including the terminating NULL . |
N/A | No |
count >= sizeOfBuffer and len >= sizeOfBuffer and count != _TRUNCATE |
If execution continues after invalid parameter handler executes, sets errno , sets buffer[0] == NULL , and returns a negative value. |
-1 | ERANGE (34) |
Yes |
count == _TRUNCATE and len >= sizeOfBuffer |
Writes as much of the string as fits in buffer , including the terminating NULL . |
-1 | N/A | No |
count == _TRUNCATE and len < sizeOfBuffer |
Writes the entire string into buffer with terminating NULL . |
Number of characters written. | N/A | No |
format == NULL |
No data is written. If execution continues after invalid parameter handler executes, sets errno and returns a negative value. |
-1 | EINVAL (22) |
Yes |
For information about these and other error codes, see _doserrno
, errno
, _sys_errlist
, and _sys_nerr
.
Important
Ensure that format
is not a user-defined string. For more information, see Avoiding buffer overruns.
Starting in Windows 10 version 2004 (build 19041), the printf
family of functions prints exactly representable floating point numbers according to the IEEE 754 rules for rounding. In previous versions of Windows, exactly representable floating point numbers ending in '5' would always round up. IEEE 754 states that they must round to the closest even digit (also known as "Banker's Rounding"). For example, both printf("%1.0f", 1.5)
and printf("%1.0f", 2.5)
should round to 2. Previously, 1.5 would round to 2 and 2.5 would round to 3. This change only affects exactly representable numbers. For example, 2.35 (which, when represented in memory, is closer to 2.35000000000000008) continues to round up to 2.4. Rounding done by these functions now also respects the floating point rounding mode set by fesetround
. Previously, rounding always chose FE_TONEAREST
behavior. This change only affects programs built using Visual Studio 2019 version 16.2 and later. To use the legacy floating point rounding behavior, link with 'legacy_stdio_float_rounding.obj`.
Note
To ensure that there is room for the terminating null, be sure that count
is strictly less than the buffer length, or use _TRUNCATE
.
In C++, using these functions is simplified by template overloads; the overloads can infer buffer length automatically (eliminating the need to specify a size argument) and they can automatically replace older, non-secure functions with their newer, secure counterparts. For more information, see Secure template overloads.
Tip
If you get an undefined external _vsnprintf_s
error and are using the Universal C Runtime, add legacy_stdio_definitions.lib
to the set of libraries to link. The Universal C Runtime doesn't export this function directly and is instead defined inline in <stdio.h>
. For more information, see Overview of potential upgrade issues and Visual Studio 2015 conformance changes.
Generic-text routine mappings
TCHAR.H routine |
_UNICODE and _MBCS not defined |
_MBCS defined |
_UNICODE defined |
---|---|---|---|
_vsntprintf_s |
_vsnprintf_s |
_vsnprintf_s |
_vsnwprintf_s |
_vsntprintf_s_l |
_vsnprintf_s_l |
_vsnprintf_s_l |
_vsnwprintf_s_l |
Requirements
Routine | Required header | Optional headers |
---|---|---|
vsnprintf_s |
<stdio.h> and <stdarg.h> |
<varargs.h> * |
_vsnprintf_s , _vsnprintf_s_l |
<stdio.h> and <stdarg.h> |
<varargs.h> * |
_vsnwprintf_s , _vsnwprintf_s_l |
<stdio.h> or <wchar.h> , and <stdarg.h> |
<varargs.h> * |
* Required for UNIX V compatibility.
For more compatibility information, see Compatibility.
Example
// crt_vsnprintf_s.cpp
#include <stdio.h>
#include <wtypes.h>
void FormatOutput(LPCSTR formatstring, ...)
{
int nSize = 0;
char buff[10];
memset(buff, 0, sizeof(buff));
va_list args;
va_start(args, formatstring);
nSize = vsnprintf_s( buff, _countof(buff), _TRUNCATE, formatstring, args);
printf("nSize: %d, buff: %s\n", nSize, buff);
va_end(args);
}
int main() {
FormatOutput("%s %s", "Hi", "there");
FormatOutput("%s %s", "Hi", "there!");
FormatOutput("%s %s", "Hi", "there!!");
}
nSize: 8, buff: Hi there
nSize: 9, buff: Hi there!
nSize: -1, buff: Hi there!
See also
Stream I/O
vprintf
functions
fprintf
, _fprintf_l
, fwprintf
, _fwprintf_l
printf
, _printf_l
, wprintf
, _wprintf_l
sprintf
, _sprintf_l
, swprintf
, _swprintf_l
, __swprintf_l
va_arg
, va_copy
, va_end
, va_start