printf in c (with five % sign gives output of only two %%)

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2.50/5 (2 votes)

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#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
   printf("%%%%%");
}

and the warning is
percent.c: In function ‘main’:
percent.c:5: warning: spurious trailing ‘%’ in format

and output is only "%%". Why not it is "%%%%%"?

Posted 5-Mar-11 23:07pm

preet88

Updated 5-Mar-11 23:09pm

Sandeep Mewara

v2

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Richard MacCutchan 6-Mar-11 10:47am

A simple solution:
printf("%s", "%%%%%");
remember that the first parameter to the printf function is the format string.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 6-Mar-11 14:11pm

Not exactly simple. A simple one is puts("%%%%%"), in my answer :-)
--SA

Richard MacCutchan 7-Mar-11 4:06am

But the issue is about the printf() function.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 7-Mar-11 14:55pm

But it should not be.
Look, if everyone answered all questions directly, there would be almost no help.
It's like this:
-- Excuse me, do you know what time is it now?
-- Yes, I do. :-)
The answer is not the ultimate purpose; help is more imprtand.

Thank you.
--SA

Richard MacCutchan 7-Mar-11 16:37pm

Well I agree your answer is informational, but the OP was specifically asking why his printf("%%%%%"); statement did not produce the expected results. Telling him/her to use puts() instead does not help with the original problem.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 7-Mar-11 17:09pm

?

3 solutions

Solution 3

Probably you need not formatted output, just "%%%%%". Use puts("%%%%%").

—SA

Posted 6-Mar-11 8:05am

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov

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OriginalGriff · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-05T23:12:00

Because, in printf, the '%' character introduces the format specifier for outputed data:

printf("%d", myInteger);

or

printf("%s", myNullTerminatedString);

When you put "%%" in a printf string, you tell it to print a single '%' character.
When you put "%%%%%" it reads that as "Print '%'", then "Print '%'", then tries to find teh format specifier for the final '%' character. Since there is not further format string, it complains.

Sandeep Mewara · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-05T23:13:00

Solution 2

'%' in C/C++ is used for formatting the Printf Values.

Look here for full detail of how and what it will display when used: Section: Formatting other Types explains your example[^]

%% => display %
thus, %%%%% => display only 2 %. Consider % as a escape sequence for runtime.

Posted 5-Mar-11 23:13pm

Sandeep Mewara

Comments

CS2011 6-Mar-11 6:15am

My 5 for link + explanation

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 6-Mar-11 14:06pm

Agree, my 5, but I suspected OP simply needs puts("%%%%%"), my answer.
--SA