I'm trying to fully understand how to use ostringstream to modernize some code that uses sprintf. The problem is in replacing test code that generates random or sequential data. Here's a simplified example:
char num[6], name[26];
sprintf(num, "%05d", i);
sprintf(name, "Customer # %d", i);
Leaving aside the minutia of length calculation, copying the result to the array and null-termination, the num conversion is straightforward:
ostringstream ostr;
ostr << setw(len) << setfill('0') << i;
For example, given i as 123, the result is "00123".
However, for the name, which is actually a mixture of a char-string and an integer, I can't figure how to replicate what sprintf appears to do so easily.
I tried variations of this:
ostr << setw(len) << left << "Customer # " << i << setfill(' ');
Given the same value for i, the result was always "Customer # 123", i.e., the integer always right justified, no matter what combination of left, right or internal, or the placement of the various parts. It seems the only solution (I haven't tried it yet), is to first concatenate the "Customer # " and the i onto a separate ostringstream and then insert that left justified to the ostr variable. Am I missing something? Is there some other way?
Correction: as discussed in the comments, in simplifying the example I overlooked a second sprintf that was actually responsible for right-padding the name. So a second output to the ostringsteam is also needed to accomplish that.