More Variable-Length Functions

["Neil" <dreaded.neil@phreaker.net>]

After reading the discussion on variable-length functions, I decided to go
make myself one that would be like prinf(), only printing onto the game
screen somewhere using extra game-ish features. So, first I used the
va_start() macro with a va_list variable and the last normal argument
passed to the function. After that, I stepped through the first argument (a
format string) looking for '%' escape characters. Upon finding one, I add
it's length to the original length of the format string. That's how I find
out how long the final string is. Now how do I go back and use my arguments
again? I'm using the va_end() macro, then calling va_start() again to get
back to the beginning. It's worked so far, but I really have no idea if
it's safe, portable, standard, or correct to do this. Now I allocate the
size of the string, plus one, and go through the whole format string again,
this time writing the characters into the newly allocated memory. Is this
really a good way to do this, or should I try something else? Does anyone
know how printf() et similar functions work?

-[ Neil-Edelman -- dreaded.neil@phreaker.net -- ICQ UIN: 705130
-[ http://neil.freeshell.org/ -- http://moop.bizland.com/
-[ "My air-to-air missile overrides your air traffic control clearance"

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