$include_dir="/home/hyper-archives/boost-commit/include"; include("$include_dir/msg-header.inc") ?>
Subject: [Boost-commit] svn:boost r57671 - trunk/libs/format/doc
From: Samuel.Krempp_at_[hidden]
Date: 2009-11-15 03:02:50
Author: samuel_krempp
Date: 2009-11-15 03:02:50 EST (Sun, 15 Nov 2009)
New Revision: 57671
URL: http://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/changeset/57671
Log:
reverting unintended modifications due to use of html editor
Text files modified: 
   trunk/libs/format/doc/format.html |  1782 +++++++++++++++++++++------------------ 
   1 files changed, 943 insertions(+), 839 deletions(-)
Modified: trunk/libs/format/doc/format.html
==============================================================================
--- trunk/libs/format/doc/format.html	(original)
+++ trunk/libs/format/doc/format.html	2009-11-15 03:02:50 EST (Sun, 15 Nov 2009)
@@ -1,102 +1,110 @@
-<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
-<HTML>
-<HEAD>
-	<META HTTP-EQUIV="CONTENT-TYPE" CONTENT="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
-	<TITLE>The Boost Format library</TITLE>
-	<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="OpenOffice.org 3.1  (Win32)">
-	<META NAME="CREATED" CONTENT="0;0">
-	<META NAME="CHANGEDBY" CONTENT="Samuel K">
-	<META NAME="CHANGED" CONTENT="20091115;8491800">
-	<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Language" CONTENT="en-us">
-	<STYLE TYPE="text/css">
-	<!--
-		TD P { color: #000000 }
-		H1 { color: #000000 }
-		P { color: #000000 }
-		H2 { color: #000000 }
-		PRE { color: #000000 }
-		H3 { color: #000000 }
-	-->
-	</STYLE>
-</HEAD>
-<BODY LANG="fr-FR" TEXT="#000000" BGCOLOR="#ffffff" DIR="LTR">
-<H1><IMG SRC="../../../boost.png" NAME="images1" ALT="boost.png (6897 bytes)" ALIGN=MIDDLE WIDTH=277 HEIGHT=86 BORDER=0>The
-Boost Format library</H1>
-<P>The <CODE><boost/format.hpp></CODE>
-format class provides printf-like formatting, in a type-safe manner
-which allows output of user-defined types.</P>
-<UL>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Synopsis 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><A HREF="#how_it_works">How it
-	works</A> 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Examples 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Syntax 
-	</P>
-	<UL>
-		<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><A HREF="#printf_directives">printf
-		format-specification syntax</A> 
-		</P>
-		<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><A HREF="#printf_differences">Incompatibilities
-		with printf</A> 
-		</P>
-	</UL>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><A HREF="#manipulators">Manipulators
-	and the internal stream state</A> 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><A HREF="#user-defined">User-defined
-	types</A> 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Alternatives
-		</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Exceptions
-		</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Performance
-		</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><A HREF="#extract">Class Interface
-	Extract</A> 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P>Rationale 
-	</P>
-</UL>
-<HR>
-<H2>Synopsis</H2>
-<P>A format object is constructed from a format-string, and is then
-given arguments through repeated calls to <I>operator%</I>.<BR>Each
-of those arguments are then converted to strings, who are in turn
-combined into one string, according to the format-string.</P>
-<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm">cout << boost::format("writing %1%,  x=%2% : %3%-th try") % "toto" % 40.23 % 50; 
-     // prints "writing toto,  x=40.230 : 50-th try"</PRE>
-<HR>
-<H2>How it works</H2>
-<OL>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">When you call <I>format(s)</I>,
-	where s is the format-string, it constructs an object, which parses
-	the format string and look for all directives in it and prepares
-	internal structures for the next step. 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P>Then, either immediately, as in 
-	</P>
-	<PRE STYLE="margin-right: 1cm; margin-bottom: 0.5cm">cout << format("%2% %1%") % 36 % 77;</PRE><P>
-	or later on, as in 
-	</P>
-	<PRE STYLE="margin-right: 1cm">format fmter("%2% %1%");
-fmter % 36; fmter % 77;</PRE><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">
-	you <I>feed</I> variables into the formatter.<BR>those variables are
-	dumped into an internal stream, which state is set according to the
-	given formatting options in the format-string -if there are any-,
-	and the format object stores the string results for the last step. 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P>Once all arguments have been fed you can dump the format
-	object to a stream, or get its string value by using the <I>str()</I>
-	member function, or the free function <I>str(const format& )</I>
-	in namespace <I>boost</I>. The result string stays accessible in the
-	format object until another argument is passed, at which time it is
-	reinitialised. 
-	</P>
-	<PRE STYLE="margin-right: 1cm">
+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
+
+<html>
+<head>
+  <meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-us">
+  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
+
+  <title>The Boost Format library</title>
+</head>
+
+<body bgcolor="white" text="black">
+  <h1><img align="middle" alt="boost.png (6897 bytes)" height="86" src=
+  "../../../boost.png" width="277">The Boost Format library</h1>
+
+  <p>The <code><a href=
+  "../../../boost/format.hpp"><boost/format.hpp></a></code> format
+  class provides printf-like formatting, in a type-safe manner which allows
+  output of user-defined types.<br></p>
+
+  <ul>
+    <li>Synopsis</li>
+
+    <li>How it works</li>
+
+    <li>Examples</li>
+
+    <li>
+      Syntax
+
+      <ul>
+        <li><a href="#printf_directives">printf format-specification
+        syntax</a></li>
+
+        <li><a href="#printf_differences">Incompatibilities with
+        printf</a></li>
+      </ul>
+    </li>
+
+    <li><a href="#manipulators">Manipulators and the internal stream
+    state</a></li>
+
+    <li>User-defined types</li>
+
+    <li>Alternatives</li>
+
+    <li>Exceptions</li>
+
+    <li>Performance</li>
+
+    <li>Class Interface Extract</li>
+
+    <li>Rationale</li>
+  </ul><a name="synopsis" id="synopsis"></a>
+  <hr>
+
+  <h2>Synopsis</h2>
+
+  <p>A format object is constructed from a format-string, and is then given
+  arguments through repeated calls to <i>operator%</i>.<br>
+  Each of those arguments are then converted to strings, who are in turn
+  combined into one string, according to the format-string.</p>
+
+  <blockquote>
+    <pre>
+cout << boost::format("writing %1%,  x=%2% : %3%-th try") % "toto" % 40.23 % 50; 
+     // prints "writing toto,  x=40.230 : 50-th try"
+</pre>
+  </blockquote><a name="how_it_works" id="how_it_works"></a>
+  <hr>
+
+  <h2>How it works</h2>
+
+  <ol>
+    <li>When you call <i>format(s)</i>, where s is the format-string, it
+    constructs an object, which parses the format string and look for all
+    directives in it and prepares internal structures for the next step.</li>
+
+    <li>Then, either immediately, as in
+
+      <blockquote>
+        <pre>
+cout << format("%2% %1%") % 36 % 77;
+</pre>
+      </blockquote>or later on, as in
+
+      <blockquote>
+        <pre>
+format fmter("%2% %1%");
+fmter % 36; fmter % 77;
+</pre>
+      </blockquote>you <i>feed</i> variables into the formatter.<br>
+      those variables are dumped into an internal stream, which state is set
+      according to the given formatting options in the format-string -if
+      there are any-, and the format object stores the string results for the
+      last step.
+    </li>
+
+    <li>Once all arguments have been fed you can dump the format object to a
+    stream, or get its string value by using the <i>str()</i> member
+    function, or the free function <i>str(const format& )</i> in
+    namespace <i>boost</i>. The result string stays accessible in the format
+    object until another argument is passed, at which time it is
+    reinitialised.
+
+      <blockquote>
+        <pre>
+
 // fmter was previously created and fed arguments, it can print the result :
 cout << fmter ;  
 
@@ -107,711 +115,793 @@
 s = fmter.str( );
 
 // You can also do all steps at once :
-cout << boost::format("%2% %1%") % 36 % 77; 
+cout << boost::format("%2% %1%") % 36 % 77; 
 
 // using the str free function :
-string s2 = str( format("%2% %1%") % 36 % 77 );
-</PRE>
-	<LI><P>Optionnally, after step 3, you can re-use a format object and
-	restart at step2 : <I>fmter % 18 % 39;</I><BR>to format new
-	variables with the same format-string, saving the expensive
-	processing involved at step 1. 
-	</P>
-</OL>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">All in all, the format class translates
-a format-string (with eventually printf-like directives) into
-operations on an internal stream, and finally returns the result of
-the formatting, as a string, or directly into an output stream. 
-</P>
-<HR>
-<H2>Examples</H2>
-<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm">using namespace std;
+string s2 = str( format("%2% %1%") % 36 % 77 );
+
+</pre>
+      </blockquote>
+    </li>
+
+    <li>Optionnally, after step 3, you can re-use a format object and restart
+    at step2 : <i>fmter % 18 % 39;</i><br>
+    to format new variables with the same format-string, saving the expensive
+    processing involved at step 1.</li>
+  </ol>All in all, the format class translates a format-string (with
+  eventually printf-like directives) into operations on an internal stream,
+  and finally returns the result of the formatting, as a string, or directly
+  into an output stream. <a name="examples" id="examples"></a>
+  <hr>
+
+  <h2>Examples</h2>
+
+  <blockquote>
+    <pre>
+using namespace std;
 using boost::format;
-using boost::io::group;</PRE>
-<UL>
-	<LI><P>Simple output, with reordering : 
-	</P>
-	<PRE STYLE="margin-right: 1cm">
-cout << format("%1% %2% %3% %2% %1% \n") % "11" % "22" % "333"; // 'simple' style.
-</PRE><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">
-	It prints : "11 22 333 22 11 \n" 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P>More precise formatting, with Posix-printf positional
-	directives : 
-	</P>
-	<PRE STYLE="margin-right: 1cm">
-cout << format("(x,y) = (%1$+5d,%2$+5d) \n") % -23 % 35;     // Posix-Printf style
-</PRE><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">
-	It prints : "(x,y) = ( -23, +35) \n" 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P>classical printf directive, no reordering : 
-	</P>
-	<PRE STYLE="margin-right: 1cm">
-cout << format("writing %s,  x=%s : %d-th step \n") % "toto" % 40.23 % 50; 
-</PRE><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">
-	It prints : "writing toto, x=40.23 : 50-th step \n" 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P>Several ways to express the same thing : 
-	</P>
-	<PRE STYLE="margin-right: 1cm">
-cout << format("(x,y) = (%+5d,%+5d) \n") % -23 % 35;
-cout << format("(x,y) = (%|+5|,%|+5|) \n") % -23 % 35;
-
-cout << format("(x,y) = (%1$+5d,%2$+5d) \n") % -23 % 35;
-cout << format("(x,y) = (%|1$+5|,%|2$+5|) \n") % -23 % 35;
-</PRE><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">
-	all those print : "(x,y) = ( -23, +35) \n" 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P>Using manipulators to modify the format-string : 
-	</P>
-	<PRE STYLE="margin-right: 1cm">
-format fmter("_%1$+5d_ %1$d \n");
+using boost::io::group;
+</pre>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <ul>
+    <li>Simple output, with reordering :
+
+      <blockquote>
+        <pre>
+
+cout << format("%1% %2% %3% %2% %1% \n") % "11" % "22" % "333"; // 'simple' style.
+
+</pre>
+      </blockquote>It prints : "11 22 333 22 11 \n"
+    </li>
+
+    <li>More precise formatting, with Posix-printf positional directives :
+
+      <blockquote>
+        <pre>
+
+cout << format("(x,y) = (%1$+5d,%2$+5d) \n") % -23 % 35;     // Posix-Printf style
+
+</pre>
+      </blockquote>It prints : "(x,y) = ( -23, +35) \n"
+    </li>
+
+    <li>classical printf directive, no reordering :
+
+      <blockquote>
+        <pre>
+
+cout << format("writing %s,  x=%s : %d-th step \n") % "toto" % 40.23 % 50; 
 
-format fmter2("_%1%_ %1% \n");
+</pre>
+      </blockquote>It prints : "writing toto, x=40.23 : 50-th step \n"
+    </li>
+
+    <li>Several ways to express the same thing :
+
+      <blockquote>
+        <pre>
+
+cout << format("(x,y) = (%+5d,%+5d) \n") % -23 % 35;
+cout << format("(x,y) = (%|+5|,%|+5|) \n") % -23 % 35;
+
+cout << format("(x,y) = (%1$+5d,%2$+5d) \n") % -23 % 35;
+cout << format("(x,y) = (%|1$+5|,%|2$+5|) \n") % -23 % 35;
+
+</pre>
+      </blockquote>all those print : "(x,y) = ( -23, +35) \n"
+    </li>
+
+    <li>Using manipulators to modify the format-string :
+
+      <blockquote>
+        <pre>
+
+format fmter("_%1$+5d_ %1$d \n");
+
+format fmter2("_%1%_ %1% \n");
 fmter2.modify_item(1, group(showpos, setw(5)) ); 
 
 cout << fmter % 101 ;
 cout << fmter2 % 101 ;
-</PRE><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">
-	Both print the same : "_ +101_ 101 \n" 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P>Using manipulators with arguments : 
-	</P>
-	<PRE STYLE="margin-right: 1cm">
-cout << format("_%1%_ %1% \n") % group(showpos, setw(5), 101);
-</PRE><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">
-	The manipulators are applied at each occurence of %1%, and thus it
-	prints : "_ +101_ +101 \n" 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P>New formatting feature : 'absolute tabulations', useful
-	inside loops, to insure a field is printed at the same position from
-	one line to the next, even if the widthes of the previous arguments
-	can vary a lot. 
-	</P>
-	<PRE STYLE="margin-right: 1cm">
+
+</pre>
+      </blockquote>Both print the same : "_ +101_ 101 \n"
+    </li>
+
+    <li>Using manipulators with arguments :
+
+      <blockquote>
+        <pre>
+
+cout << format("_%1%_ %1% \n") % group(showpos, setw(5), 101);
+
+</pre>
+      </blockquote>The manipulators are applied at each occurence of %1%, and
+      thus it prints : "_ +101_ +101 \n"
+    </li>
+
+    <li>New formatting feature : 'absolute tabulations', useful inside loops,
+    to insure a field is printed at the same position from one line to the
+    next, even if the widthes of the previous arguments can vary a lot.
+
+      <blockquote>
+        <pre>
+
 for(unsigned int i=0; i < names.size(); ++i)
-    cout << format("%1%, %2%, %|40t|%3%\n") % names[i] % surname[i] % tel[i];
-</PRE><P>
-	For some std::vector <I>names</I>, <I>surnames</I>, and <I>tel</I>
-	(see sample_new_features.cpp) it prints : 
-	</P>
-	<PRE STYLE="margin-right: 1cm">Marc-François Michel, Durand,           +33 (0) 123 456 789
-Jean, de Lattre de Tassigny,            +33 (0) 987 654 321</PRE>
-</UL>
-<HR>
-<H2>Sample Files</H2>
-<P>The program sample_formats.cpp
-demonstrates simple uses of <B>format</B>.</P>
-<P>sample_new_features.cpp
-illustrates the few formatting features that were added to printf's
-syntax such as simple positional directives, centered alignment, and
-'tabulations'.</P>
-<P>sample_advanced.cpp
-demonstrates uses of advanced features, like reusing, and modifying,
-format objects, etc..</P>
-<P>And sample_userType.cpp
-shows the behaviour of the <B>format</B> library on user-defined
-types.</P>
-<HR>
-<H2>Syntax</H2>
-<P><B>boost::format(</B> format-string <B>) %</B> arg1 <B>%</B> arg2
-<B>%</B> ... <B>%</B> argN</P>
-<P>The <I>format-string</I> contains text in which special directives
-will be replaced by strings resulting from the formatting of the
-given arguments.<BR>The legacy syntax in the C and C++ worlds is the
-one used by printf, and thus format can use directly printf
-format-strings, and produce the same result (in almost all cases. see
-Incompatibilities with printf for
-details)<BR>This core syntax was extended, to allow new features, but
-also to adapt to the C++ streams context. Thus, format accepts
-several forms of directives in format-strings :</P>
-<UL>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">Legacy printf format strings :
-	<B>%</B><I>spec</I> where <I>spec</I> is a <A HREF="#printf_directives">printf
-	format specification</A><BR><I>spec</I> passes formatting options,
-	like width, alignment, numerical base used for formatting numbers,
-	as well as other specific flags. But the classical
-	<I>type-specification</I> flag of printf has a weaker meaning in
-	format. It merely sets the appropriate flags on the internal stream,
-	and/or formatting parameters, but does not require the corresponding
-	argument to be of a specific type.<BR>e.g. : the specification <I>2$x</I>,
-	meaning "print argument number 2, which is an integral number,
-	in hexa" for printf, merely means "print argument 2 with
-	stream basefield flags set to <I>hex</I>" for format. 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><B>%|</B><I>spec</I><B>|</B> where
-	<I>spec</I> is a printf format specification.<BR>The enclosing pipes
-	are introduced, to improve the readability of the format-string, but
-	primarily, to make the <I>type-conversion character</I> optional in
-	<I>spec</I>. This information is not necessary with C++ variables,
-	but with direct printf syntax, it is necessary to always give a
-	type-conversion character, merely because this character is crucial
-	to determine the end of a format-specification.<BR>e.g. : "%|-5|"
-	will format the next variable with width set to 5, and
-	left-alignment just like the following printf directives : "%-5g",
-	"%-5f", "%-5s" .. 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P><B>%</B><I>N</I><B>%</B><BR>This simple positional notation
-	requests the formatting of the <I>N</I>-th argument - wihout any
-	formatting option.<BR>(It's merely a shortcut to Printf's positional
-	directives (like "%<I>N</I>$s"), but a major benefit is
-	that it's much more readable, and does not use a "type-conversion"
-	character) 
-	</P>
-</UL>
-<P>On top of the standard printf format specifications, new features
-were implemented, like centered alignment. See <A HREF="#new_directives">new
-format specification</A> for details. 
-</P>
-<H3>printf format specifications</H3>
-<P>The printf format specifications supported by Boost.format follows
-the Unix98 <A HREF="http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/7908799/xsh/fprintf.html">Open-group
-printf</A> precise syntax, rather than the standard C printf, which
-does not support positional arguments. (Common flags have the same
-meaning in both, so it should not be a headache for anybody)<BR><I>Note
-that it is an error to use positional format specifications</I> (e.g.
-<I>%3$+d</I>) <I>mixed with non-positional ones</I> (e.g. <I>%+d</I>)
-<I>in the same format string.</I><BR>In the Open-group specification,
-referring to the same argument several times (e.g. <I>"%1$d
-%1$d"</I>) has undefined behaviour. Boost.format's behaviour in
-such cases is to allow each argument to be reffered to any number of
-times. The only constraint is that it expects exactly <I>P</I>
-arguments, <I>P</I> being the maximum argument number used in the
-format string. (e.g., for "%1$d %10$d", <I>P</I> == 10
-).<BR>Supplying more, or less, than <I>P</I> arguments raises an
-exception. (unless it was set otherwise, see exceptions)</P>
-<P><BR><BR>A specification <I>spec</I> has the form : [ <I>N</I><B>$</B>
-] [ <I>flags</I> ] [ <I>width</I> ] [ <B>.</B> <I>precision</I> ]
-<I>type-char</I><BR><BR>Fields insided square brackets are optional.
-Each of those fields are explained one by one in the following list :</P>
-<UL>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><I>N</I> <B>$</B> (optional field)
-	specifies that the format specification applies to the <I>N</I>-th
-	argument. (it is called a <I>positional format specification</I>)<BR>If
-	this is not present, arguments are taken one by one. (and it is then
-	an error to later supply an argument number) 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P><I>flags</I> is a sequences of any of those : 
-	</P>
-	<TABLE BORDER=1 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=2>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>Flag</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>Meaning</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>effect on internal stream</B></P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>'-'</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>left alignment</P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>N/A (applied later on the string)</P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>'='</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>centered alignment</P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>N/A (applied later on the string)<BR><I>- note : added
-				feature, not in printf -</I></P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>'_'</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>internal alignment</P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>sets internal alignment<BR><I>- note : added feature, not in
-				printf -</I></P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>'+'</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>show sign even for positive numbers</P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>sets <I>showpos</I></P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>'#'</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>show numerical base, and decimal point</P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>sets <I>showbase</I> and <I>showpoint</I></P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>'0'</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>pad with 0's (inserted after sign or base indicator)</P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>if not left-aligned, calls <I>setfill('0')</I> and sets
-				<I>internal</I><BR>Extra actions are taken after stream
-				conversion to handle user-defined output.</P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>' '</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>if the string does not begin with <I>+</I> or <I>-</I>, insert
-				a <I>space</I> before the converted string</P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>N/A (applied later on the string)<BR>Different to printf's
-				behaviour : it is not affected by internal alignment</P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-	</TABLE>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><I>width</I> specifies a minimal
-	width for the string resulting form the conversion. If necessary,
-	the string will be padded with alignment and fill characters either
-	set on the stream via manipulators, or specified by the
-	format-string (e.g. flags '0', '-', ..)<BR>Note that width is not
-	just set on the conversion stream. To support output of <A HREF="#user-defined">user-defined
-	types</A> (that might call <I>operator<<</I> many times on
-	several members), the width is handled after stream conversion of
-	the whole argument object, in the format class code. 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><I>precision</I> (preceded by a
-	point), sets the stream's <I>precision</I> 
-	</P>
-	<UL>
-		<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">When outputting a floatting type
-		number, it sets the maximum number of digits 
-		</P>
-		<UL>
-			<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">after decimal point when in
-			fixed or scientific mode 
-			</P>
-			<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">in total when in default mode
-			('<I>general mode</I>', like <I>%g</I>) 
-			</P>
-		</UL>
-		<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">When used with type-char <B>s</B>
-		or <B>S</B> it takes another meaning : the conversion string is
-		truncated to the <I>precision</I> first chars. (Note that the
-		eventual padding to <I>width</I> is done after truncation.) 
-		</P>
-	</UL>
-	<LI><P><I>type-char</I>. it does <B>not</B> impose the concerned
-	argument to be of a restricted set of types, but merely sets the
-	flags that are associated with this type specification. 
-	</P>
-	<TABLE BORDER=1 CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=2>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>Type-Char</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>Meaning</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>effect on stream</B></P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>p or x</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>hexadecimal output</P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>sets <I>hex</I></P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>o</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>octal output</P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>sets <I>oct</I></P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>e</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>scientific float format</P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>sets floatfield bits to <I>scientific</I></P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>f</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>fixed float format</P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>sets floatfield bits to <I>fixed</I></P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>g</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>general -default- float format</P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>unset</B> all floatfield bits</P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>X, E</B> or <B>G</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>same effect as their lowercase counterparts, but using
-				uppercase letters for number outputs. (exponents, hex digits, ..)</P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>same effects as <I>'x'</I>, <I>'e'</I>, or <I>'g'</I>, <B>plus</B>
-				<I>uppercase</I></P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>d, i</B> or <B>u</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>decimal</B> type output</P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>sets basefield bits to <I>dec</I></P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>s</B> or <B>S</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>string output</P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P><I>precision</I> specification is unset, and its value goes to
-				an internal field for later 'truncation'. (see <I>precision</I>
-				explanation above)</P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>c</B> or <B>C</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>1-character output</P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>only the first character of the conversion string is used.</P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-		<TR>
-			<TD>
-				<P><B>%</B></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>print the character <I>%</I></P>
-			</TD>
-			<TD>
-				<P>N/A</P>
-			</TD>
-		</TR>
-	</TABLE>
-	<P>Note that the 'n' type specification is ignored (and so is the
-	corresponding argument), because it does not fit in this
-	context.<BR>Also, printf 'l', 'L', or 'h' modifiers (to indicate
-	wide, long or short types) are supported (and simply have no effect
-	on the internal stream).</P>
-</UL>
-<H3><A NAME="new_directives"></A>new format-specifications</H3>
-<UL>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">as stated in the flags table,
-	centered and internal alignment flags (' <I>=</I> ', and ' <I>_</I>
-	') were added. 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><I><B>%|</B></I><I>n</I><B>t|</B>
-	, where <I>n</I> is a positive number, inserts an <I>absolute
-	tabulation</I>. It means that format will, if needed, fill the
-	string with characters, until the length of the string created so
-	far reaches <I>n</I> characters. (see examples
-	) 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P><B>%|</B><I>n</I><B>T</B><I>X</I><I><B>|</B></I> inserts a
-	tabulation in the same way, but using <I>X</I> as fill character
-	instead of the current 'fill' char of the stream (which is <I>space</I>
-	for a stream in default state) 
-	</P>
-</UL>
-<H2><A NAME="printf_differences"></A>Differences of behaviour vs
-printf</H2>
-<P>Suppose you have variables <I>x1, x2</I> (built_in types,
-supported by C's printf),<BR>and a format string <I>s</I> intended
-for use with a printf function this way : 
-</P>
-<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm; margin-bottom: 0.5cm">printf(s, x1, x2);</PRE><P>
-<BR>In almost all cases, the result will be the same as with this
-command : 
-</P>
-<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm; margin-bottom: 0.5cm">cout << format(s) % x1 % x2;</PRE><P>
-But because some printf format specifications don't translate well
-into stream formatting options, there are a few notable imperfections
-in the way Boost.format emulates printf.<BR>In any case, the <I>format</I>
-class should quietly ignore the unsupported options, so that printf
-format-strings are always accepted by format and produce almost the
-same output as printf.</P>
-<P><BR>Here is the full list of such differences : 
-</P>
-<UL>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><B>'0'</B> and <B>' '</B> options
-	: printf ignores these options for non numeric conversions, but
-	format applies them to all types of variables. (so it is possible to
-	use those options on user-defined types, e.g. a Rational class,
-	etc..) 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><B>precision</B> for integral
-	types arguments has a special meaning for printf :<BR><I>printf(
-	"(%5.3d)" , 7 ) ;</I> prints « ( 007) »<BR>While
-	format, like streams, ignores the precision parameter for integral
-	types conversions. 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">the <B>'</B> printf option (<I>format
-	with thousands grouping characters)</I>) has no effect in format. 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P>Width or precision set to asterisk (<I>*</I>) are used by
-	printf to read this field from an argument. e.g.
-	<I>printf("%1$d:%2$.*3$d:%4$.*3$d\n", hour, min,
-	precision, sec);</I><BR>This class does not support this mechanism
-	for now. so such precision or width fields are quietly ignored by
-	the parsing. 
-	</P>
-</UL>
-<P>Also, note that the special <B>'n'</B> type-specification (used to
-tell printf to save in a variable the number of characters output by
-the formatting) has no effect in format.<BR>Thus format strings
-containing this type-specification should produce the same converted
-string by printf or format. It will not cause differences in the
-formatted strings between printf and format.<BR>To get the number of
-characters in the formatted string using Boost.Format, you can use
-the <I>size()</I> member function : 
-</P>
-<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm">format formatter("%+5d");
+    cout << format("%1%, %2%, %|40t|%3%\n") % names[i] % surname[i] % tel[i];
+
+</pre>
+      </blockquote>For some std::vector <i>names</i>, <i>surnames</i>, and
+      <i>tel</i> (see sample_new_features.cpp) it prints :
+
+      <blockquote>
+        <pre>
+Marc-François Michel, Durand,           +33 (0) 123 456 789
+Jean, de Lattre de Tassigny,            +33 (0) 987 654 321
+</pre>
+      </blockquote>
+    </li>
+  </ul>
+  <hr>
+
+  <h2>Sample Files</h2>
+
+  <p>The program <a href=
+  "../example/sample_formats.cpp">sample_formats.cpp</a> demonstrates simple
+  uses of <b>format</b>.<br></p>
+
+  <p>sample_new_features.cpp
+  illustrates the few formatting features that were added to printf's syntax
+  such as simple positional directives, centered alignment, and
+  'tabulations'.<br></p>
+
+  <p>sample_advanced.cpp
+  demonstrates uses of advanced features, like reusing, and modifying, format
+  objects, etc..<br></p>
+
+  <p>And sample_userType.cpp
+  shows the behaviour of the <b>format</b> library on user-defined
+  types.</p><a name="syntax" id="syntax"></a>
+  <hr>
+
+  <h2>Syntax</h2>
+
+  <p><b>boost::format(</b> format-string <b>) %</b> arg1 <b>%</b> arg2
+  <b>%</b> ... <b>%</b> argN</p>
+
+  <p>The <i>format-string</i> contains text in which special directives will
+  be replaced by strings resulting from the formatting of the given
+  arguments.<br>
+  The legacy syntax in the C and C++ worlds is the one used by printf, and
+  thus format can use directly printf format-strings, and produce the same
+  result (in almost all cases. see <a href=
+  "#printf_differences">Incompatibilities with printf</a> for details)<br>
+  This core syntax was extended, to allow new features, but also to adapt to
+  the C++ streams context. Thus, format accepts several forms of directives
+  in format-strings :</p>
+
+  <ul>
+    <li>Legacy printf format strings : <b>%</b><i>spec</i> where <i>spec</i>
+    is a printf format specification<br>
+    <i>spec</i> passes formatting options, like width, alignment, numerical
+    base used for formatting numbers, as well as other specific flags. But
+    the classical <i>type-specification</i> flag of printf has a weaker
+    meaning in format. It merely sets the appropriate flags on the internal
+    stream, and/or formatting parameters, but does not require the
+    corresponding argument to be of a specific type.<br>
+    e.g. : the specification <i>2$x</i>, meaning "print argument number 2,
+    which is an integral number, in hexa" for printf, merely means "print
+    argument 2 with stream basefield flags set to <i>hex</i>" for
+    format.</li>
+
+    <li><b>%|</b><i>spec</i><b>|</b> where <i>spec</i> is a printf format
+    specification.<br>
+    This pipe-delimited syntax is introduced, to improve the readability of the
+    format-string, but primarily, to make the <i>type-conversion
+    character</i> optional in <i>spec</i>. This information is not necessary
+    with C++ variables, but with direct printf syntax, it is necessary to
+    always give a type-conversion character, merely because this character is
+    crucial to determine the end of a format-specification.<br>
+    e.g. : "%|-5|" will format the next variable with width set to 5, and
+    left-alignment just like the following printf directives : "%-5g",
+    "%-5f", "%-5s" ..</li>
+
+    <li><b>%</b><i>N</i><b>%</b><br>
+    This simple positional notation requests the formatting of the
+    <i>N</i>-th argument - wihout any formatting option.<br>
+    (It's merely a shortcut to Printf's positional directives (like
+    "%<i>N</i>$s"), but a major benefit is that it's much more readable, and
+    does not use a "type-conversion" character)</li>
+  </ul>On top of the standard printf format specifications, new features were
+  implemented, like centered alignment. See <a href="#new_directives">new
+  format specification</a> for details. <a name="printf_directives" id=
+  "printf_directives"></a>
+
+  <h3>printf format specifications</h3>
+
+  <p>The printf format specifications supported by Boost.format follows the
+  Unix98 <a href=
+  "http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/7908799/xsh/fprintf.html">Open-group
+  printf</a> precise syntax, rather than the standard C printf, which does
+  not support positional arguments. (Common flags have the same meaning in
+  both, so it should not be a headache for anybody)<br>
+  <i>Note that it is an error to use positional format specifications</i>
+  (e.g. <i>%3$+d</i>) <i>mixed with non-positional ones</i> (e.g. <i>%+d</i>)
+  <i>in the same format string.</i><br>
+  In the Open-group specification, referring to the same argument several
+  times (e.g. <i>"%1$d %1$d"</i>) has undefined behaviour. Boost.format's
+  behaviour in such cases is to allow each argument to be reffered to any
+  number of times. The only constraint is that it expects exactly <i>P</i>
+  arguments, <i>P</i> being the maximum argument number used in the format
+  string. (e.g., for "%1$d %10$d", <i>P</i> == 10 ).<br>
+  Supplying more, or less, than <i>P</i> arguments raises an exception.
+  (unless it was set otherwise, see exceptions)</p>
+
+  <p><br>
+  <br>
+  A specification <i>spec</i> has the form : [ <i>N</i><b>$</b> ] [
+  <i>flags</i> ] [ <i>width</i> ] [ <b>.</b> <i>precision</i> ]
+  <i>type-char</i><br>
+  <br>
+  Fields insided square brackets are optional. Each of those fields are
+  explained one by one in the following list :</p>
+
+  <ul>
+    <li><i>N</i> <b>$</b> (optional field) specifies that the format
+    specification applies to the <i>N</i>-th argument. (it is called a
+    <i>positional format specification</i>)<br>
+    If this is not present, arguments are taken one by one. (and it is then
+    an error to later supply an argument number)</li>
+
+    <li>
+      <i>flags</i> is a sequences of any of those :
+
+      <blockquote>
+        <table border="1" cellpadding="5" summary="">
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>Flag</b></td>
+
+            <td><b>Meaning</b></td>
+
+            <td><b>effect on internal stream</b></td>
+          </tr>
+
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>'-'</b></td>
+
+            <td>left alignment</td>
+
+            <td>N/A (applied later on the string)</td>
+          </tr>
+
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>'='</b></td>
+
+            <td>centered alignment</td>
+
+            <td>N/A (applied later on the string)<br>
+            <i>- note : added feature, not in printf -</i></td>
+          </tr>
+
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>'_'</b></td>
+
+            <td>internal alignment</td>
+
+            <td>sets internal alignment<br>
+            <i>- note : added feature, not in printf -</i></td>
+          </tr>
+
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>'+'</b></td>
+
+            <td>show sign even for positive numbers</td>
+
+            <td>sets <i>showpos</i></td>
+          </tr>
+
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>'#'</b></td>
+
+            <td>show numerical base, and decimal point</td>
+
+            <td>sets <i>showbase</i> and <i>showpoint</i></td>
+          </tr>
+
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>'0'</b></td>
+
+            <td>pad with 0's (inserted after sign or base indicator)</td>
+
+            <td>if not left-aligned, calls <i>setfill('0')</i> and sets
+            <i>internal</i><br>
+            Extra actions are taken after stream conversion to handle
+            user-defined output.</td>
+          </tr>
+
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>' '</b></td>
+
+            <td>if the string does not begin with <i>+</i> or <i>-</i>,
+            insert a <i>space</i> before the converted string</td>
+
+            <td>N/A (applied later on the string)<br>
+            Different to printf's behaviour : it is not affected by internal
+            alignment</td>
+          </tr>
+        </table>
+      </blockquote>
+    </li>
+
+    <li><i>width</i> specifies a minimal width for the string resulting form
+    the conversion. If necessary, the string will be padded with alignment
+    and fill characters either set on the stream via manipulators, or
+    specified by the format-string (e.g. flags '0', '-', ..)<br>
+    Note that width is not just set on the conversion stream. To support
+    output of user-defined types (that might call
+    <i>operator<<</i> many times on several members), the width is
+    handled after stream conversion of the whole argument object, in the
+    format class code.</li>
+
+    <li>
+      <i>precision</i> (preceded by a point), sets the stream's
+      <i>precision</i>
+
+      <ul>
+        <li>When outputting a floatting type number, it sets the maximum
+        number of digits
+
+          <ul>
+            <li>after decimal point when in fixed or scientific mode</li>
+
+            <li>in total when in default mode ('<i>general mode</i>', like
+            <i>%g</i>)</li>
+          </ul>
+        </li>
+
+        <li>When used with type-char <b>s</b> or <b>S</b> it takes another
+        meaning : the conversion string is truncated to the <i>precision</i>
+        first chars. (Note that the eventual padding to <i>width</i> is done
+        after truncation.)</li>
+      </ul>
+    </li>
+
+    <li>
+      <i>type-char</i>. it does <b>not</b> impose the concerned argument to
+      be of a restricted set of types, but merely sets the flags that are
+      associated with this type specification.
+
+      <blockquote>
+        <table border="1" cellpadding="5" summary="">
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>Type-Char</b></td>
+
+            <td><b>Meaning</b></td>
+
+            <td><b>effect on stream</b></td>
+          </tr>
+
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>p or x</b></td>
+
+            <td>hexadecimal output</td>
+
+            <td>sets <i>hex</i></td>
+          </tr>
+
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>o</b></td>
+
+            <td>octal output</td>
+
+            <td>sets <i>oct</i></td>
+          </tr>
+
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>e</b></td>
+
+            <td>scientific float format</td>
+
+            <td>sets floatfield bits to <i>scientific</i></td>
+          </tr>
+
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>f</b></td>
+
+            <td>fixed float format</td>
+
+            <td>sets floatfield bits to <i>fixed</i></td>
+          </tr>
+
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>g</b></td>
+
+            <td>general -default- float format</td>
+
+            <td><b>unset</b> all floatfield bits</td>
+          </tr>
+
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>X, E</b> or <b>G</b></td>
+
+            <td>same effect as their lowercase counterparts, but using
+            uppercase letters for number outputs. (exponents, hex digits,
+            ..)</td>
+
+            <td>same effects as <i>'x'</i>, <i>'e'</i>, or <i>'g'</i>,
+            <b>plus</b> <i>uppercase</i></td>
+          </tr>
+
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>d, i</b> or <b>u</b></td>
+
+            <td><b>decimal</b> type output</td>
+
+            <td>sets basefield bits to <i>dec</i></td>
+          </tr>
+
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>s</b> or <b>S</b></td>
+
+            <td>string output</td>
+
+            <td><i>precision</i> specification is unset, and its value goes
+            to an internal field for later 'truncation'. (see
+            <i>precision</i> explanation above)</td>
+          </tr>
+
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>c</b> or <b>C</b></td>
+
+            <td>1-character output</td>
+
+            <td>only the first character of the conversion string is
+            used.</td>
+          </tr>
+
+          <tr>
+            <td><b>%</b></td>
+
+            <td>print the character <i>%</i></td>
+
+            <td>N/A</td>
+          </tr>
+        </table>
+      </blockquote>
+
+      <p>Note that the 'n' type specification is ignored (and so is the
+      corresponding argument), because it does not fit in this context.<br>
+      Also, printf 'l', 'L', or 'h' modifiers (to indicate wide, long or
+      short types) are supported (and simply have no effect on the internal
+      stream).</p>
+    </li>
+  </ul><a name="new_directives" id="new_directives"></a>
+
+  <h3>new format-specifications</h3>
+
+  <ul>
+    <li>as stated in the flags table, centered and internal alignment flags
+    (' <i>=</i> ', and ' <i>_</i> ') were added.</li>
+
+    <li><i><b>%{</b>n</i><b>t}</b> , where <i>n</i> is a positive number,
+    inserts an <i>absolute tabulation</i>. It means that format will, if
+    needed, fill the string with characters, until the length of the string
+    created so far reaches <i>n</i> characters. (see <a href=
+    "#examples">examples</a> )</li>
+
+    <li><b>%|</b><i>n</i><b>T</b><i>X</i><b>|</b> inserts a tabulation in the
+    same way, but using <i>X</i> as fill character instead of the current
+    'fill' char of the stream (which is <i>space</i> for a stream in default
+    state)</li>
+  </ul><a name="printf_differences" id="printf_differences"></a>
+
+  <h2>Differences of behaviour vs printf</h2>Suppose you have variables
+  <i>x1, x2</i> (built_in types, supported by C's printf),<br>
+  and a format string <i>s</i> intended for use with a printf function this
+  way :
+
+  <blockquote>
+    <pre>
+printf(s, x1, x2);
+</pre>
+  </blockquote><br>
+  In almost all cases, the result will be the same as with this command :
+
+  <blockquote>
+    <pre>
+cout << format(s) % x1 % x2;
+</pre>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <p>But because some printf format specifications don't translate well into
+  stream formatting options, there are a few notable imperfections in the way
+  Boost.format emulates printf.<br>
+  In any case, the <i>format</i> class should quietly ignore the unsupported
+  options, so that printf format-strings are always accepted by format and
+  produce almost the same output as printf.</p><br>
+  Here is the full list of such differences :
+
+  <ul>
+    <li><b>'0'</b> and <b>' '</b> options : printf ignores these options for
+    non numeric conversions, but format applies them to all types of
+    variables. (so it is possible to use those options on user-defined types,
+    e.g. a Rational class, etc..)</li>
+
+    <li><b>precision</b> for integral types arguments has a special meaning
+    for printf :<br>
+    <i>printf( "(%5.3d)" , 7 ) ;</i> prints « ( 007) »<br>
+    While format, like streams, ignores the precision parameter for integral
+    types conversions.</li>
+
+    <li>the <b>'</b> printf option (<i>format with thousands grouping
+    characters)</i>) has no effect in format.</li>
+
+    <li>Width or precision set to asterisk (<i>*</i>) are used by printf to
+    read this field from an argument. e.g.
+    <i>printf("%1$d:%2$.*3$d:%4$.*3$d\n", hour, min, precision, sec);</i><br>
+    This class does not support this mechanism for now. so such precision or
+    width fields are quietly ignored by the parsing.</li>
+  </ul>Also, note that the special <b>'n'</b> type-specification (used to
+  tell printf to save in a variable the number of characters output by the
+  formatting) has no effect in format.<br>
+  Thus format strings containing this type-specification should produce the
+  same converted string by printf or format. It will not cause differences in
+  the formatted strings between printf and format.<br>
+  To get the number of characters in the formatted string using Boost.Format,
+  you can use the <i>size()</i> member function :
+
+  <blockquote>
+    <pre>
+format formatter("%+5d");
 cout << formatter % x;
-unsigned int n = formatter.size();</PRE>
-<HR>
-<H2>User-defined types output</H2>
-<P>All flags which are translated into modification to the stream
-state act recursively within user-defined types. ( the flags remain
-active, and so does the desired format option, for each of the '<<'
-operations that might be called by the user-defined class)</P>
-<P>e.g., with a Rational class, we would have something like : 
-</P>
-<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm">Rational ratio(16,9);
-cerr << format("%#x \n")  % ratio;  // -> "0x10/0x9 \n"</PRE><P>
-It's a different story for other formatting options. For example,
-setting width applies to the final output produced by the object, not
-to each of its internal outputs, and that's fortunate :</P>
-<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm">cerr << format("%-8d")  % ratio;  // -> "16/9    "      and not    "16      /9       "
-cerr << format("%=8d")  % ratio;  // -> "  16/9  "      and not    "   16   /    9   "</PRE><P>
-<BR>But so does the 0 and ' ' options (contrarily to '+' which is
-directly translated to the stream state by <I>showpos</I>. But no
-such flags exist for the zero and space printf options)<BR>and that
-is less natural :</P>
-<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm">cerr << format("%+08d \n")  % ratio;  // -> "+00016/9"
-cerr << format("% 08d \n")  % ratio;  // -> "000 16/9"</PRE><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">
-It is possible to obtain a better behaviour by carefully designing
-the Rational's <I>operator<<</I> to handle the stream's width,
-alignment and <I>showpos</I> paramaters by itself. This is
-demonstrated in sample_userType.cpp.
-</P>
-<HR>
-<H3>Manipulators, and internal stream state</H3>
-<P>The internal stream state of <B>format</B> is saved before and
-restored after output of an argument; therefore, the modifiers are
-not sticky and affect only the argument they are applied to.<BR>The
-default state for streams, as stated by the standard, is : precision
-6, width 0, right alignment, and decimal flag set.</P>
-<P>The state of the internal <B>format</B> stream can be changed by
-manipulators passed along with the argument; via the <I>group</I>
-function, like that :</P>
-<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm; margin-bottom: 0.5cm">cout << format("%1% %2% %1%\n") % group(hex, showbase, 40) % 50; // prints "0x28 50 0x28\n"</PRE><P>
-<BR>When passing N items inside a 'group' Boost.format needs to
-process manipulators diferently from regular argument, and thus using
-group is subject to the following constraints :</P>
-<OL>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">the object to be printed must be
-	passed as the last item in the group 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P>the first N-1 items are treated as manipulators, and if they
-	do produce output, it is discarded 
-	</P>
-</OL>
-<P>Such manipulators are passed to the streams right before the
-following argument, at every occurence. Note that formatting options
-specified within the format string are overridden by stream state
-modifiers passed this way. For instance in the following code, the
-<I>hex</I> manipulator has priority over the <I>d</I>
-type-specification in the format-string which would set decimal
-output :</P>
-<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm">cout << format("%1$d %2% %1%\n") % group(hex, showbase, 40) % 50; 
-// prints "0x28 50 0x28\n"</PRE><H2>
-Alternatives</H2>
-<UL>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><B>printf</B> is the classical
-	alternative, that is not type safe and not extendable to
-	user-defined types. 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">ofrstream.cc by Karl Nelson's
-	design was a big source of inspiration to this format class. 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">James Kanze's library has a format
-	class (in <I>srcode/Extended/format</I> ) which looks very well
-	polished. Its design has in common with this class the use of
-	internal stream for the actual conversions, as well as using
-	operators to pass arguments. (but his class, as ofrstream, uses
-	<I>operator<<</I> rather <I>than operator%</I> ) 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P><A HREF="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/boost/files/format3/">Karl
-	Nelson's library</A> was intented as demonstration of alternative
-	solutions in discussions on Boost's list for the design of
-	Boost.format. 
-	</P>
-</UL>
-<HR>
-<H2>Exceptions</H2>
-<P>Boost.format enforces a number of rules on the usage of format
-objects. The format-string must obeys the syntax described above, the
-user must supply exactly the right number of arguments before
-outputting to the final destination, and if using modify_item or
-bind_arg, items and arguments index must not be out of range.<BR>When
-format detects that one of these rules is not satisfied, it raises a
-corresponding exception, so that the mistakes don't go unnoticed and
-unhandled.<BR>But the user can change this behaviour to fit his
-needs, and select which types of errors may raise exceptions using
-the following functions :</P>
-<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm">
+unsigned int n = formatter.size();
+</pre>
+  </blockquote><a name="user-defined" id="user-defined"></a>
+  <hr>
+
+  <h2>User-defined types output</h2>
+
+  <p>All flags which are translated into modification to the stream state act
+  recursively within user-defined types. ( the flags remain active, and so
+  does the desired format option, for each of the '<<' operations that
+  might be called by the user-defined class)</p>e.g., with a Rational class,
+  we would have something like :
+
+  <blockquote>
+    <pre>
+Rational ratio(16,9);
+cerr << format("%#x \n")  % ratio;  // -> "0x10/0x9 \n"
+</pre>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <p>It's a different story for other formatting options. For example,
+  setting width applies to the final output produced by the object, not to
+  each of its internal outputs, and that's fortunate :</p>
+
+  <blockquote>
+    <pre>
+cerr << format("%-8d")  % ratio;  // -> "16/9    "      and not    "16      /9       "
+cerr << format("%=8d")  % ratio;  // -> "  16/9  "      and not    "   16   /    9   "
+</pre>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <p><br>
+  But so does the 0 and ' ' options (contrarily to '+' which is directly
+  translated to the stream state by <i>showpos</i>. But no such flags exist
+  for the zero and space printf options)<br>
+  and that is less natural :</p>
+
+  <blockquote>
+    <pre>
+cerr << format("%+08d \n")  % ratio;  // -> "+00016/9"
+cerr << format("% 08d \n")  % ratio;  // -> "000 16/9"
+</pre>
+  </blockquote>It is possible to obtain a better behaviour by carefully
+  designing the Rational's <i>operator<<</i> to handle the stream's
+  width, alignment and <i>showpos</i> paramaters by itself. This is
+  demonstrated in <a href=
+  "../example/sample_userType.cpp">sample_userType.cpp</a>. <a name=
+  "manipulators" id="manipulators"></a>
+  <hr>
+
+  <h3>Manipulators, and internal stream state</h3>
+
+  <p>The internal stream state of <b>format</b> is saved before and restored
+  after output of an argument; therefore, the modifiers are not sticky and
+  affect only the argument they are applied to.<br>
+  The default state for streams, as stated by the standard, is : precision 6,
+  width 0, right alignment, and decimal flag set.</p>
+
+  <p>The state of the internal <b>format</b> stream can be changed by
+  manipulators passed along with the argument; via the <i>group</i> function,
+  like that :</p>
+
+  <blockquote>
+    <pre>
+cout << format("%1% %2% %1%\n") % group(hex, showbase, 40) % 50; // prints "0x28 50 0x28\n"
+</pre>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <p><br>
+  When passing N items inside a 'group' Boost.format needs to process
+  manipulators diferently from regular argument, and thus using group is
+  subject to the following constraints :</p>
+
+  <ol>
+    <li>the object to be printed must be passed as the last item in the
+    group</li>
+
+    <li>the first N-1 items are treated as manipulators, and if they do
+    produce output, it is discarded</li>
+  </ol>
+
+  <p>Such manipulators are passed to the streams right before the following
+  argument, at every occurence. Note that formatting options specified within
+  the format string are overridden by stream state modifiers passed this way.
+  For instance in the following code, the <i>hex</i> manipulator has priority
+  over the <i>d</i> type-specification in the format-string which would set
+  decimal output :</p>
+
+  <blockquote>
+    <pre>
+cout << format("%1$d %2% %1%\n") % group(hex, showbase, 40) % 50; 
+// prints "0x28 50 0x28\n"
+</pre>
+  </blockquote><a name="alternatives" id="alternatives"></a>
+
+  <h2>Alternatives</h2>
+
+  <ul>
+    <li><b>printf</b> is the classical alternative, that is not type safe and
+    not extendable to user-defined types.</li>
+
+    <li>ofrstream.cc by Karl Nelson's design was a big source of inspiration
+    to this format class.</li>
+
+    <li>James Kanze's library has a format class (in
+    <i>srcode/Extended/format</i> ) which looks very well polished. Its
+    design has in common with this class the use of internal stream for the
+    actual conversions, as well as using operators to pass arguments. (but
+    his class, as ofrstream, uses <i>operator<<</i> rather <i>than
+    operator%</i> )</li>
+
+    <li><a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/boost/files/format3/">Karl
+    Nelson's library</a> was intented as demonstration of alternative
+    solutions in discussions on Boost's list for the design of
+    Boost.format.</li>
+  </ul><a name="exceptions" id="exceptions"></a>
+  <hr>
+
+  <h2>Exceptions</h2>
+
+  <p>Boost.format enforces a number of rules on the usage of format objects.
+  The format-string must obeys the syntax described above, the user must
+  supply exactly the right number of arguments before outputting to the final
+  destination, and if using modify_item or bind_arg, items and arguments
+  index must not be out of range.<br>
+  When format detects that one of these rules is not satisfied, it raises a
+  corresponding exception, so that the mistakes don't go unnoticed and
+  unhandled.<br>
+  But the user can change this behaviour to fit his needs, and select which
+  types of errors may raise exceptions using the following functions :</p>
+
+  <blockquote>
+    <pre>
+
 unsigned char exceptions(unsigned char newexcept); // query and set
 unsigned char exceptions() const;                  // just query
-</PRE><P>
-The user can compute the argument <I>newexcept</I> by combining the
-following atoms using binary arithmetic :</P>
-<UL>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><B>boost::io::bad_format_string_bit</B>
-	selects errors due to ill-formed format-strings. 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><B>boost::io::too_few_args_bit</B>
-	selects errors due to asking for the srting result before all
-	arguments are passed. 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><B>boost::io::too_many_args_bit</B>
-	selects errors due to passing too many arguments. 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><B>boost::io::out_of_range_bit</B>
-	select errors due to out of range index supplied by the user when
-	calling <I>modify_item</I> or other functions taking an item index
-	(or an argument index) 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><B>boost::io::all_error_bits</B>
-	selects all errors 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P><B>boost::io::no_error_bits</B> selects no error. 
-	</P>
-</UL>
-<P>For instance, if you don't want Boost.format to detect bad number
-of arguments, you can define a specific wrapper function for building
-format objects with the right exceptions settings :</P>
-<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm">
+
+</pre>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <p>The user can compute the argument <i>newexcept</i> by combining the
+  following atoms using binary arithmetic :</p>
+
+  <ul>
+    <li><b>boost::io::bad_format_string_bit</b> selects errors due to
+    ill-formed format-strings.</li>
+
+    <li><b>boost::io::too_few_args_bit</b> selects errors due to asking for
+    the srting result before all arguments are passed.</li>
+
+    <li><b>boost::io::too_many_args_bit</b> selects errors due to passing too
+    many arguments.</li>
+
+    <li><b>boost::io::out_of_range_bit</b> select errors due to out of range
+    index supplied by the user when calling <i>modify_item</i> or other
+    functions taking an item index (or an argument index)</li>
+
+    <li><b>boost::io::all_error_bits</b> selects all errors</li>
+
+    <li><b>boost::io::no_error_bits</b> selects no error.</li>
+  </ul>
+
+  <p>For instance, if you don't want Boost.format to detect bad number of
+  arguments, you can define a specific wrapper function for building format
+  objects with the right exceptions settings :</p>
+
+  <blockquote>
+    <pre>
+
 boost::format  my_fmt(const std::string & f_string) {
     using namespace boost::io;
     format fmter(f_string);
     fmter.exceptions( all_error_bits ^ ( too_many_args_bit | too_few_args_bit )  );
     return fmter;
 }
-</PRE><P>
-It is then allowed to give more arguments than needed (they are
-simply ignored) : 
-</P>
-<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm">
-cout << my_fmt(" %1% %2% \n") % 1 % 2 % 3 % 4 % 5;
-</PRE><P>
-And if we ask for the result before all arguments are supplied, the
-corresponding part of the result is simply empty 
-</P>
-<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm">
-cout << my_fmt(" _%2%_ _%1%_ \n") % 1 ;
-// prints      " __ _1_ \n"
-</PRE>
-<HR>
-<H2>A Note about performance</H2>
-<P>The performance of boost::format for formatting a few builtin type
-arguments with reordering can be compared to that of Posix-printf,
-and of the equivalent stream manual operations to give a measure of
-the overhead incurred. The result may greatly depend on the compiler,
-standard library implementation, and the precise choice of
-format-string and arguments.</P>
-<P>Since common stream implementations eventually call functions of
-the printf family for the actual formatting of numbers, in general
-printf will be noticeably faster than the direct stream operations
-And due to to the reordering overhead (allocations to store the
-pieces of string, stream initialisation at each item formatting, ..)
-the direct stream operations would be faster than boost::format, (one
-cas expect a ratio ranging from 2 to 5 or more)</P>
-<P>When iterated formattings are a performance bottleneck,
-performance can be slightly increased by parsing the format string
-into a format object, and copying it at each formatting, in the
-following way.</P>
-<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm">    const boost::format fmter(fstring);
-    dest << boost::format(fmter) % arg1 % arg2 % arg3 ;</PRE><P>
-As an example of performance results, the author measured the time of
-execution of iterated formattings with 4 different methods</P>
-<OL>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">posix printf 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">manual stream output (to a dummy
-	<I>nullStream</I> stream sending the bytes into oblivion) 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">boost::format copied from a const
-	object as shown above 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P>the straigt boost::format usage 
-	</P>
-</OL>
-<P>the test was compiled with g++-3.3.3 and the following timings
-were measured (in seconds, and ratios) :</P>
-<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm">string     fstring="%3$0#6x %1$20.10E %2$g %3$0+5d \n";
+
+</pre>
+  </blockquote>It is then allowed to give more arguments than needed (they
+  are simply ignored) :
+
+  <blockquote>
+    <pre>
+
+cout << my_fmt(" %1% %2% \n") % 1 % 2 % 3 % 4 % 5;
+
+</pre>
+  </blockquote>And if we ask for the result before all arguments are
+  supplied, the corresponding part of the result is simply empty
+
+  <blockquote>
+    <pre>
+
+cout << my_fmt(" _%2%_ _%1%_ \n") % 1 ;
+// prints      " __ _1_ \n"
+
+</pre>
+  </blockquote><a name="performance" id="performance"></a>
+  <hr>
+
+  <h2>A Note about performance</h2>
+
+  <p>The performance of boost::format for formatting a few builtin type
+  arguments with reordering can be compared to that of Posix-printf, and of
+  the equivalent stream manual operations to give a measure of the overhead
+  incurred. The result may greatly depend on the compiler, standard library
+  implementation, and the precise choice of format-string and arguments.</p>
+
+  <p>Since common stream implementations eventually call functions of the
+  printf family for the actual formatting of numbers, in general printf will
+  be noticeably faster than the direct stream operations And due to to the
+  reordering overhead (allocations to store the pieces of string, stream
+  initialisation at each item formatting, ..) the direct stream operations
+  would be faster than boost::format, (one cas expect a ratio ranging from 2
+  to 5 or more)</p>
+
+  <p>When iterated formattings are a performance bottleneck, performance can
+  be slightly increased by parsing the format string into a format object,
+  and copying it at each formatting, in the following way.</p>
+
+  <blockquote>
+    <pre>
+    const boost::format fmter(fstring);
+    dest << boost::format(fmter) % arg1 % arg2 % arg3 ;
+</pre>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <p>As an example of performance results, the author measured the time of
+  execution of iterated formattings with 4 different methods</p>
+
+  <ol>
+    <li>posix printf</li>
+
+    <li>manual stream output (to a dummy <i>nullStream</i> stream sending the
+    bytes into oblivion)</li>
+
+    <li>boost::format copied from a const object as shown above</li>
+
+    <li>the straigt boost::format usage</li>
+  </ol>
+
+  <p>the test was compiled with g++-3.3.3 and the following timings were
+  measured (in seconds, and ratios) :</p>
+
+  <blockquote>
+    <pre>
+string     fstring="%3$0#6x %1$20.10E %2$g %3$0+5d \n";
 double     arg1=45.23;
 double     arg2=12.34;
 int        arg3=23;
@@ -826,10 +916,16 @@
 printf                 : 2.12
 nullStream             : 3.69,  = 1.74057 * printf
 boost::format copied   :10.02,  = 4.72642 * printf ,  = 2.71545 * nullStream
-boost::format straight :17.03,  = 8.03302 * printf ,  = 4.61518 * nullStream</PRE>
-<HR>
-<H2>Class Interface Extract</H2>
-<PRE STYLE="margin-left: 1cm; margin-right: 1cm">namespace boost {
+boost::format straight :17.03,  = 8.03302 * printf ,  = 4.61518 * nullStream
+</pre>
+  </blockquote><a name="extract" id="extract"></a>
+  <hr>
+
+  <h2>Class Interface Extract</h2>
+
+  <blockquote>
+    <pre>
+namespace boost {
 
 template<class charT, class Traits=std::char_traits<charT> > 
 class basic_format 
@@ -875,52 +971,60 @@
 }
 
 
-} // namespace boost</PRE>
-<HR>
-<H2>Rationale</H2>
-<P>This class's goal is to bring a better, C++, type-safe and
-type-extendable <I>printf</I> equivalent to be used with streams.</P>
-<P>Precisely, <B>format</B> was designed to provide the following
-features : 
-</P>
-<UL>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">support positional arguments
-	(required for internationalisation) 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">accept an unlimited number of
-	arguments. 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">make formatting commands visually
-	natural. 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">support the use of manipulators to
-	modify the display of an argument. in addition to the format-string
-	syntax. 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm">accept any types of variables, by
-	relying on streams for the actual conversion to string. This
-	specifically concerns user-defined types, for which the formatting
-	options effects should be intuitively natural. 
-	</P>
-	<LI><P>provide printf-compatibility, as much as it makes sense in a
-	type-safe and type-extendable context. 
-	</P>
-</UL>
-<P>In the process of the design, many issues were faced, and some
-choices were made, that might not be intuitively right. But in each
-case they were taken for some reasons.</P>
-<HR>
-<H2>Credits</H2>
-<P>The author of Boost format is Samuel Krempp.   He used ideas
-from Rüdiger Loos' format.hpp and Karl Nelson's formatting
-classes.</P>
-<HR>
-<P>
</P>
-<P>Revised<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" s-type="EDITED" s-format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->
-02 December, 2006<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="38510" --></P>
-<P><I>Copyright © 2002 Samuel Krempp</I></P>
-<P><I>Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See
-accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt
-or copy at http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt)</I></P>
-</BODY>
-</HTML>
\ No newline at end of file
+} // namespace boost
+</pre>
+  </blockquote>
+  <hr>
+  <a name="rationale" id="rationale"></a>
+
+  <h2>Rationale</h2>
+
+  <p>This class's goal is to bring a better, C++, type-safe and
+  type-extendable <i>printf</i> equivalent to be used with
+  streams.</p>Precisely, <b>format</b> was designed to provide the following
+  features :
+
+  <ul>
+    <li>support positional arguments (required for internationalisation)</li>
+
+    <li>accept an unlimited number of arguments.</li>
+
+    <li>make formatting commands visually natural.</li>
+
+    <li>support the use of manipulators to modify the display of an argument.
+    in addition to the format-string syntax.</li>
+
+    <li>accept any types of variables, by relying on streams for the actual
+    conversion to string. This specifically concerns user-defined types, for
+    which the formatting options effects should be intuitively natural.</li>
+
+    <li>provide printf-compatibility, as much as it makes sense in a
+    type-safe and type-extendable context.</li>
+  </ul>
+
+  <p>In the process of the design, many issues were faced, and some choices
+  were made, that might not be intuitively right. But in each case they were
+  taken for some reasons.</p>
+  <hr>
+
+  <h2>Credits</h2>
+
+  <p>The author of Boost format is Samuel Krempp.   He used ideas from
+  Rüdiger Loos' format.hpp and Karl Nelson's formatting classes.</p>
+  <hr>
+
+  <p><a href="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer"><img border="0" src=
+  "../../../doc/images/valid-html401.png" alt="Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional"
+  height="31" width="88"></a></p>
+
+  <p>Revised 
+  <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" s-type="EDITED" s-format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->02 December, 2006<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="38510" --></p>
+
+  <p><i>Copyright © 2002 Samuel Krempp</i></p>
+
+  <p><i>Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See
+  accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or
+  copy at <a href=
+  "http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt">http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt>)</i></p>
+</body>
+</html>