printf() suggestion

I had some positive feedback on this in php-general, so I thought I'd post it here too. Monte ---------------------------------------------------------------- Hi, I'm just looking for a general consensus on an idea: How about extending the functionality of printf() and sprintf() with a way to format html-encoded and url-encoded strings? For an example, this: printf("%h,%u",$string1,$string2); would be a shorthand way of doing this: printf("%s,%s",htmlspecialchars($string1),urlencode($string2)); pros: *) easier to remember and shorter to type than htmlspecialchars() *) maybe faster, especially if printf() is already being used *) doesn't break any backward compatibility *) consolidates some functionality of php to one function call, constructive toward tighter php code and leaner php language. cons: *) duplicates existing functionality What do you think?