JavaScript equivalent to printf/String.Format

Solution 1:

Building on the previously suggested solutions:

// First, checks if it isn't implemented yet.
if (!String.prototype.format) {
  String.prototype.format = function() {
    var args = arguments;
    return this.replace(/{(\d+)}/g, function(match, number) { 
      return typeof args[number] != 'undefined'
        ? args[number]
        : match
      ;
    });
  };
}

"{0} is dead, but {1} is alive! {0} {2}".format("ASP", "ASP.NET")

outputs

ASP is dead, but ASP.NET is alive! ASP {2}

If you prefer not to modify String's prototype:

if (!String.format) {
  String.format = function(format) {
    var args = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 1);
    return format.replace(/{(\d+)}/g, function(match, number) { 
      return typeof args[number] != 'undefined'
        ? args[number] 
        : match
      ;
    });
  };
}

Gives you the much more familiar:

String.format('{0} is dead, but {1} is alive! {0} {2}', 'ASP', 'ASP.NET');

with the same result:

ASP is dead, but ASP.NET is alive! ASP {2}

Solution 2:

Current JavaScript

From ES6 on you could use template strings:

let soMany = 10;
console.log(`This is ${soMany} times easier!`);
// "This is 10 times easier!

See Kim's answer below for details.

Older answer

Try sprintf() for JavaScript.

If you really want to do a simple format method on your own, don’t do the replacements successively but do them simultaneously.

Because most of the other proposals that are mentioned fail when a replace string of previous replacement does also contain a format sequence like this:

"{0}{1}".format("{1}", "{0}")

Normally you would expect the output to be {1}{0} but the actual output is {1}{1}. So do a simultaneously replacement instead like in fearphage’s suggestion.