va_arg

The va_arg macro expands to an expression of type T that corresponds to the next parameter from the va_list ap .

Prior to calling va_arg , ap must be initialized by a call to either va_start or va_copy , with no intervening call to va_end . Each invocation of the va_arg macro modifies ap to point to the next variable argument.

If the type of the next argument in ap (after promotions) is not compatible with T , the behavior is undefined, unless:

• one type is a signed integer type, the other type is the corresponding unsigned integer type, and the value is representable in both types; or
• one type is pointer to void and the other is a pointer to a character type ( char , signed char , or unsigned char ).

If va_arg is called when there are no more arguments in ap , the behavior is undefined.

Parameters

Expanded value

The next variable parameter in ap .

Example

#include <cstdarg>
#include <cstdio>
#include <iostream>
 
void print_variance(std::size_t count, const char* fmt, ...)
{
    double sum = 0;
    double sum_sq = 0;
    std::va_list args;
    va_start(args, fmt);
    for (std::size_t i = count; i--;)
    {
        double num = va_arg(args, double);
        sum += num;
        sum_sq += num*num;
    }
    va_end(args);
    std::printf(fmt, sum_sq / count - (sum / count) * (sum / count));
}
 
void nano_printf(const char* fmt, ...)
{
    std::va_list args;
    va_start(args, fmt);
 
    for (const char* p = fmt; *p != '\0'; ++p)
    {
        switch (*p)
        {
        case '%':
            switch (*++p) // read format symbol
            {
                case 'i':
                    std::cout << va_arg(args, int);
                    continue;
                case 'f':
                    std::cout << va_arg(args, double);
                    continue;
                case 's':
                    std::cout << va_arg(args, const char*);
                    continue;
                case 'c':
                    std::cout << static_cast<char>(va_arg(args, int));
                    continue;
                case '%':
                    std::cout << '%';
                    continue;
                /* ...more cases... */
            }
            break; // format error...
        case '\n':
            std::cout << '\n';
            continue;
        case '\t':
            std::cout << '\t';
            continue;
        /* ...more cases... */
        }
        std::cout << *p;
    }
 
    va_end(args);
}
 
int main()
{
    print_variance(4, "%f\n", 25.0, 27.3, 26.9, 25.7);
    nano_printf("Args: %i%% %c%f %s\n", 42, '#', 3.14, "C++");
}

0.846875
Args: 42% #3.14 C++

See also