42 - ft_printf

A project that consists on creating a replica of the printf function. Well... A very limited version of it.

Project instructions

First, let's see the general instructions that apply to ft_printf:

• The Makefile must not relink (Unnecesary recompilations).
• The function must never crash nor have undefined behavior (This project has an exception to this rule).
• The code must be written following norminette requirements.
• Memory leaks are an issue, so no leaks are allowed, even if the function fails.

Now, the specific instructions for ft_printf:

• The only allowed to use functions are malloc, free, write, va_start, va_arg, va_copy and va_end.
• The behavior of printf must be replicated, so if printf crashes, this function should crash too, the return value must also be the same.
• The use of libft is allowed. But I decided to use new functions.
• ONLY the following conversions must be handled: %c, %s, %p, %d, %i, %u, %x, %X and %%

What I learned

This project teaches us how to use variable arguments with va_start, va_arg, va_copy and va_end. Even though I didn't need to use va_copy.

Testing the project

This project includes a test file, test_printf.c. You can compile all files with something like gcc *.c and run the executable to see if this project behaves exactly as the printf function. This cannot be compiled with error flags as it intentionally uses weird values.

~ This file is ignored by Codacy, as it has intentionally bad code quality. This was a fast solution, a proper tester is preferred over it.