printf string, variable length item

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There is no need to construct a special format string. printf allows you to specify the precision using a parameter (that precedes the value) if you use a .* as the precision in the format tag.

For example:

printf ("%d %.*s", number, SIZE, letters);

Note: there is a distinction between width (which is a minimum field width) and precision (which gives the maximum number of characters to be printed).
%*s specifies the width, %.s specifies the precision. (and you can also use %*.* but then you need two parameters, one for the width one for the precision)

See also the printf man page (man 3 printf under Linux) and especially the sections on field width and precision:

Instead of a decimal digit string one may write “*” or “*m$” (for some
decimal integer m) to specify that the precision is given in the next
argument, or in the m-th argument, respectively, which must be of type int.

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