sscanf

The arguments of a command as typed values - a player, a number, a word, the rest of the line - in one call.

The name is SA-MP’s on purpose: the same job, one letter per argument. args is the string OnPlayerCommandText hands you; format is one letter per argument, in order:

letter	the argument	what you get
`u`	a player: a pid or a name (or a fragment of one), as `GetPlayerId` reads it	the pid
`d`	a whole number (`-3`, `50`)	a number
`f`	a number (`0.5`, `12`)	a number
`s`	one word - or a `"quoted string"` taken whole	a string
`z`	the rest of the line, from here to the end	a string

A ? after a letter makes that argument optional: nil when it is not there. Words are split on spaces; whatever follows the last letter is ignored. It returns the values in the format’s order. When a required argument is missing or does not read - a number that is not one, a player nobody is called - it returns false and the reason ("argument 2 (abc) is not a whole number", "no player called xyz"), ready for a usage line: check the first value against false, not against nil, when the first letter is optional.

Syntax

sscanf(args, format)

Parameter	Type
`args`	string	the command’s arguments as `OnPlayerCommandText` gives them
`format`	string	one letter per argument (`u d f s z`), a `?` after a letter for an optional one

Returns

any ... - the values in order, or false, reason

Example

-- /pay <player> <amount>
local target, amount = sscanf(args, "ud")
if target == false then return SendClientMessage(pid, COLOUR_RED, "usage: /pay <player> <amount>") end

-- /hurt [player] [amount]: both optional, the caller and 30 by default
local target, amount = sscanf(args, "u?d?")
if target == false then return SendClientMessage(pid, COLOUR_RED, amount) end   -- the reason
target, amount = target or pid, amount or 30

-- /say <text>: a word, then the rest of the line whole
local channel, text = sscanf(args, "sz")

-- /arena <x> <y> <z> [yaw]
local x, y, z, yaw = sscanf(args, "ffff?")

sscanf

Syntax

Returns

Example

See also