vsprintf or sprintf with named arguments, or simple template parsing in PHP

Late to the party, but you can simply use strtr to "translate characters or replace substrings"

<?php

$hours = 2;
$minutes = 24;
$seconds = 35;

// Option 1: Replacing %variable
echo strtr(
    'Last time logged in was %hours hours, %minutes minutes, %seconds seconds ago',
    [
        '%hours' => $hours,
        '%minutes' => $minutes,
        '%seconds' => $seconds
    ]
);

// Option 2: Alternative replacing {variable}
echo strtr(
    'Last time logged in was  {hours} hours, {minutes} minutes, {seconds} seconds ago',
    [
        '{hours}' => $hours,
        '{minutes}' => $minutes,
        '{seconds}' => $seconds
    ]
);

// Option 3: Using an array with variables:
$data = [
    '{hours}' => 2,
    '{minutes}' => 24,
    '{seconds}' => 35,
];

echo strtr('Last time logged in was {hours} hours, {minutes} minutes, {seconds} seconds ago', $data);

// More options: Of course you can replace any string....

outputs the following:

Last time logged in was 2 hours, 24 minutes, 35 seconds ago

I've written a small component exactly for this need. It's called StringTemplate. With it you can get what you want with a code like this:

$engine = new StringTemplate\Engine;

$engine->render(
   'Last time logged in was {hours} hours, {minutes} minutes, {seconds} seconds ago',
   [
      'hours' => '08',
      'minutes' => 23,
      'seconds' => 12,
   ]
);
//Prints "Last time logged in was 08 hours, 23 minutes, 12 seconds ago"

Hope that can help.

As far as I know printf/sprintf does not accept assoc arrays.

However it is possible to do printf('%1$d %1$d', 1);

Better than nothing ;)

This is from php.net

function vnsprintf( $format, array $data)
{
    preg_match_all( '/ (?<!%) % ( (?: [[:alpha:]_-][[:alnum:]_-]* | ([-+])? [0-9]+ (?(2) (?:\.[0-9]+)? | \.[0-9]+ ) ) ) \$ [-+]? \'? .? -? [0-9]* (\.[0-9]+)? \w/x', $format, $match, PREG_SET_ORDER | PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE);
    $offset = 0;
    $keys = array_keys($data);
    foreach( $match as &$value )
    {
        if ( ( $key = array_search( $value[1][0], $keys, TRUE) ) !== FALSE || ( is_numeric( $value[1][0] ) && ( $key = array_search( (int)$value[1][0], $keys, TRUE) ) !== FALSE) )
        {
            $len = strlen( $value[1][0]);
            $format = substr_replace( $format, 1 + $key, $offset + $value[1][1], $len);
            $offset -= $len - strlen( 1 + $key);
        }
    }
    return vsprintf( $format, $data);
}

Example:

$example = array(
    0 => 'first',
    'second' => 'second',
    'third',
    4.2 => 'fourth',
    'fifth',
    -6.7 => 'sixth',
    'seventh',
    'eighth',
    '9' => 'ninth',
    'tenth' => 'tenth',
    '-11.3' => 'eleventh',
    'twelfth'
);

echo vnsprintf( '%1$s %2$s %3$s %4$s %5$s %6$s %7$s %8$s %9$s %10$s %11$s %12$s<br />', $example); // acts like vsprintf
echo vnsprintf( '%+0$s %second$s %+1$s %+4$s %+5$s %-6.5$s %+6$s %+7$s %+9$s %tenth$s %-11.3$s %+10$s<br />', $example);

Example 2:

$examples = array(
    2.8=>'positiveFloat',    // key = 2 , 1st value
    -3=>'negativeInteger',    // key = -3 , 2nd value
    'my_name'=>'someString'    // key = my_name , 3rd value
);

echo vsprintf( "%%my_name\$s = '%my_name\$s'\n", $examples);    // [unsupported]
echo vnsprintf( "%%my_name\$s = '%my_name\$s'\n", $examples);    // output : "someString"

echo vsprintf( "%%2.5\$s = '%2.5\$s'\n", $examples);        // [unsupported]
echo vnsprintf( "%%2.5\$s = '%2.5\$s'\n", $examples);        // output : "positiveFloat"

echo vsprintf( "%%+2.5\$s = '%+2.5\$s'\n", $examples);        // [unsupported]
echo vnsprintf( "%%+2.5\$s = '%+2.5\$s'\n", $examples);        // output : "positiveFloat"

echo vsprintf( "%%-3.2\$s = '%-3.2\$s'\n", $examples);        // [unsupported]
echo vnsprintf( "%%-3.2\$s = '%-3.2\$s'\n", $examples);        // output : "negativeInteger"

echo vsprintf( "%%2\$s = '%2\$s'\n", $examples);            // output : "negativeInteger"
echo vnsprintf( "%%2\$s = '%2\$s'\n", $examples);            // output : [= vsprintf]

echo vsprintf( "%%+2\$s = '%+2\$s'\n", $examples);        // [unsupported]
echo vnsprintf( "%%+2\$s = '%+2\$s'\n", $examples);        // output : "positiveFloat"

echo vsprintf( "%%-3\$s = '%-3\$s'\n", $examples);        // [unsupported]
echo vnsprintf( "%%-3\$s = '%-3\$s'\n", $examples);        // output : "negativeInteger"