Archaelus suggested in [this post](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/383407/what-are-some-interesting-projects-to-solve-in-erlang-for-learning-purposes#383456) that writing a new format routine to handle named parameters may be a good learning exercise. So, in the spirit of learning the language I wrote a formatting routine which handles named parameters.

**An Example:**

```
1> fout:format("hello ~s{name}, ~p{one}, ~p{two}, ~p{three}~n",[{one,1},{three,3},{name,"Mike"},{two,2}]).
hello Mike, 1, 2, 3
ok

```

**The Benchmark:**

```
1> timer:tc(fout,benchmark_format_overhead,["hello ~s{name}, ~p{one}, ~p{two}, ~p{three}~n",[{one,1},{name,"Mike"},{three,3},{two,2}],100000]).
{421000,true}
= 4.21us per call

```

Although I suspect that much of this overhead is due to looping, as a calling the function with one loop yields a response in < 1us.

```
1> timer:tc(fout,benchmark_format_overhead,["hello ~s{name}, ~p{one}, ~p{two}, ~p{three}~n",[{one,1},{name,"Mike"},{three,3},{two,2}],1]).
{1,true}

```

If there is a better way of benchmarking in erlang, please let me know.

**The Code:**
(which has been revised in accordance with Doug's suggestion)

```
-module(fout).

-export([format/2,benchmark_format_overhead/3]).

benchmark_format_overhead(_,_,0)->
    true;
benchmark_format_overhead(OString,OList,Loops) ->
    {FString,FNames}=parse_string(OString,ONames),
    benchmark_format_overhead(OString,OList,Loops-1).

format(OString,ONames) ->
    {FString,FNames}=parse_string(OString,ONames),
    io:format(FString,FNames).

parse_string(FormatString,Names) ->
    {F,N}=parse_format(FormatString),
    {F,substitute_names(N,Names)}.

parse_format(FS) ->
    parse_format(FS,"",[],"").

parse_format("",FormatString,ParamList,"")->
    {lists:reverse(FormatString),lists:reverse(ParamList)};
parse_format([${|FS],FormatString,ParamList,"")->
    parse_name(FS,FormatString,ParamList,"");
parse_format([$}|_FS],FormatString,_,_) ->
    throw({'unmatched } found',lists:reverse(FormatString)});
parse_format([C|FS],FormatString,ParamList,"") ->
    parse_format(FS,[C|FormatString],ParamList,"").

parse_name([$}|FS],FormatString,ParamList,ParamName) ->
    parse_format(FS,FormatString,[list_to_atom(lists:reverse(ParamName))|ParamList],"");
parse_name([${|_FS],FormatString,_,_) ->
    throw({'additional { found',lists:reverse(FormatString)});
parse_name([C|FS],FormatString,ParamList,ParamName) ->
    parse_name(FS,FormatString,ParamList,[C|ParamName]).

substitute_names(Positioned,Values) ->
    lists:map(fun(CN)->
                        case lists:keysearch(CN,1,Values) of
                            false ->
                                throw({'named parameter not found',CN,Values});
                            {_,{_,V}} ->
                                V
                        end end,
              Positioned).

```

As this was a learning exercise, I was hoping that those more experienced with erlang could give me tips on how to improve my code.

Cheers,
Mike