c - Is this possible to customize printf?

Question

I have some struct that I need to print frequently. For now, I am using a classical print wrapper around this struct :

void printf_mystruct(struct* my_struct)
{
   if (my_struct==NULL) return;
   printf("[value1:%d value2:%d]", struct->value1, struct->value2);
}

This function is handy, but is also really limited. I cannot prepen or append some text without making a new wrapper. I know that I can use va_arg family to be able to prepend or apprend some text, but I feel like I would be re-implementing the wheel.

I am wondering if it's possible to write a customizing function to printf. I would like to be able to write something like this :

register2printf("%mys", &printf_mystruct); 
...
if (incorrect)
  printf("[%l] Struct is incorrect : %mys
", log_level, my_struct);

Is this possible ? How can I do this ?

NB: I am under Ubuntu Linux 10.04 and I use gcc.

Answer 1

^{Sorry, but some answers are incorrect on Linux with Glibc}

On Linux with a GNU Glibc, you can customize printf: you would call register_printf_function to e.g. define the meaning of %Y in your printf format strings.

However, this behavior is Glibc specific, and might even become obsolete... I'm not sure I would recommend this approach!

If coding in C++, the C++ stream library has manipulators which you could extend, and you can also overload for your types the operator << etc.

added in february 2018

You could consider writing a GCC plugin helping that (and improving the typechecking of some extended printf). It won't be easy (probably a few weeks or months of work), and it would be GCC version specific (not the same plugin code for GCC 7 and GCC 8). you might add some specific #pragma to inform your plugin about extra control string specifiers like your %Y and the type expected for them. Your plugin should change the handling of format attribute (perhaps in gcc/tree.c)