How do I print multiple variables in a string?

ardprintf is a function that I hacked together which simulates printf over the serial connection. This function (given at the bottom) can be pasted in the beginning of the files where the function is needed. It should not create any conflicts.

It can be called similar to printf. See it in action in this example:

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop()
{
  int l=2;
  char *j = "test";
  long k = 123456789;
  char s = 'g';
  float f = 2.3;

  ardprintf("test %d %l %c %s %f", l, k, s, j, f);

  delay(5000);

}

The output as expected is:

test 2 123456789 g test 2.30

---

The function prototype is:

int ardprintf(char *, ...);

It returns the number of arguments detected in the function call.

This is the function definition:

#ifndef ARDPRINTF
#define ARDPRINTF
#define ARDBUFFER 16
#include <stdarg.h>
#include <Arduino.h>

int ardprintf(char *str, ...)
{
  int i, count=0, j=0, flag=0;
  char temp[ARDBUFFER+1];
  for(i=0; str[i]!='\0';i++)  if(str[i]=='%')  count++;

  va_list argv;
  va_start(argv, count);
  for(i=0,j=0; str[i]!='\0';i++)
  {
    if(str[i]=='%')
    {
      temp[j] = '\0';
      Serial.print(temp);
      j=0;
      temp[0] = '\0';

      switch(str[++i])
      {
        case 'd': Serial.print(va_arg(argv, int));
                  break;
        case 'l': Serial.print(va_arg(argv, long));
                  break;
        case 'f': Serial.print(va_arg(argv, double));
                  break;
        case 'c': Serial.print((char)va_arg(argv, int));
                  break;
        case 's': Serial.print(va_arg(argv, char *));
                  break;
        default:  ;
      };
    }
    else 
    {
      temp[j] = str[i];
      j = (j+1)%ARDBUFFER;
      if(j==0) 
      {
        temp[ARDBUFFER] = '\0';
        Serial.print(temp);
        temp[0]='\0';
      }
    }
  };
  Serial.println();
  return count + 1;
}
#undef ARDBUFFER
#endif

**To print the % character, use %%.*

---

Now, available on Github gists.

I wouldn't normally put two answers to a question, but I only just found this today, where you can use printf without any buffer.

// Function that printf and related will use to print
int serial_putchar(char c, FILE* f) {
    if (c == '\n') serial_putchar('\r', f);
    return Serial.write(c) == 1? 0 : 1;
}

FILE serial_stdout;

void setup(){
    Serial.begin(9600);

    // Set up stdout
    fdev_setup_stream(&serial_stdout, serial_putchar, NULL, _FDEV_SETUP_WRITE);
    stdout = &serial_stdout;

    printf("My favorite number is %6d!\n", 12);
}

void loop() {
  static long counter = 0;
  if (millis()%300==0){
    printf("millis(): %ld\tcounter: %ld (%02X)\n", millis(), counter, counter++);
    delay(1);    
  }
}

This still has the floating point limitation.

edit: I thought I would do a little testing on this, and it works quite well. I added a better test to the loop with formatted output.

This is probably not better, just different. You can use the String object for output. These objects allow concatenation and support automatic typecasting.

Serial.begin(9600);
String label = "Var";
const byte nValues = 3;
int var[nValues] = {36, 72, 49};

for (int i = 0; i < nValues; i++) {
    String stuff = label + i + ": ";
    Serial.println(stuff + var[i]);
}