String Formatting in GDScript

Our first program will demonstrate string formatting in GDScript. Here’s the full source code and explanation:

extends Node

class Point:
    var x: int
    var y: int
    
    func _init(_x: int, _y: int):
        x = _x
        y = _y

func _ready():
    # GDScript offers several ways to format strings
    # For example, this prints an instance of our Point class
    var p = Point.new(1, 2)
    print("struct1: ", p)
    
    # To include the struct's field names, we can use the str() function
    print("struct2: ", str(p))
    
    # To print the type of a value, use typeof()
    print("type: ", typeof(p))
    
    # Formatting booleans is straightforward
    print("bool: ", true)
    
    # For integers, we can use the standard print function
    print("int: ", 123)
    
    # To print a binary representation, we can use String.bin()
    print("bin: ", String.num(14, 2))
    
    # To print the character corresponding to an integer
    print("char: ", char(33))
    
    # For hexadecimal representation
    print("hex: ", "%X" % 456)
    
    # For basic decimal formatting of floats
    print("float1: %.6f" % 78.9)
    
    # Scientific notation
    print("float2: %.6e" % 123400000.0)
    
    # For basic string printing
    print('str1: "string"')
    
    # To include quotes in the output
    print("str2: ", '"string"')
    
    # To print a representation of a pointer (object ID in GDScript)
    print("pointer: ", p.get_instance_id())
    
    # Controlling width and precision
    print("width1: |%6d|%6d|" % [12, 345])
    print("width2: |%6.2f|%6.2f|" % [1.2, 3.45])
    
    # Left-justify with the - flag
    print("width3: |%-6.2f|%-6.2f|" % [1.2, 3.45])
    
    # Controlling width for strings
    print("width4: |%6s|%6s|" % ["foo", "b"])
    print("width5: |%-6s|%-6s|" % ["foo", "b"])
    
    # Formatting and returning a string without printing
    var s = "sprintf: a %s" % "string"
    print(s)
    
    # Printing to stderr (in GDScript, this is done with push_error)
    push_error("io: an error")

To run the program, save this code in a script attached to a Node in your Godot project and run the scene.

GDScript provides various string formatting options, although they differ slightly from Go’s. The % operator is used for string formatting, similar to Python. For more complex formatting, GDScript offers functions like str() and String.num().

Note that GDScript doesn’t have a direct equivalent to Go’s fmt.Sprintf() or fmt.Fprintf(). Instead, you can use string formatting with the % operator to create formatted strings, and print() or push_error() to output to the console or error log respectively.

Remember that GDScript is designed for use within the Godot game engine, so some concepts (like writing to arbitrary file descriptors) may not have direct equivalents. However, for most string formatting needs, GDScript provides powerful and flexible options.

String Functions in GDScript

Text Templates in GDScript

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String Formatting in GDScript