n= write(f, format=fstring, linesize=l, obj1, obj2, ...)  
             n= write(format=fstring, linesize=l, obj1, obj2, ...)  
 	 or strings= swrite(format=fstring, linesize=l, obj1, obj2, ...)  
  
     writes text to I/O stream F (1st form), or to the terminal (2nd  
     form), or to the STRINGS string array (3rd form), representing  
     arrays OBJ1, OBJ2, ..., according to the optional FSTRING.  The  
     optional linesize L defaults to 80 characters, and helps restrict  
     line lengths when FSTRING is not given, or does not contain  
     newline directives.  The write function always appends to the  
     end of a text file; the position for a sequence of reads is  
     not affected by intervening writes.  
  
     There must be one conversion specifier (see below) in FSTRING for  
     each OBJ to be written; the type of the conversion specifier must  
     generally match the type of the OBJ.  That is, an integer OBJ  
     requires an integer specifier (d, i, o, u, x, or c) in FSTRING,  
     a real OBJ requires a real specifier (e, f, or g), a string OBJ  
     requires the string specifier (s), and a pointer OBJ requires a  
     the pointer specifier (p).  An OBJ may not be complex, a structure  
     instance, or any non-array Yorick object.  If FSTRING is not  
     supplied, or if it has fewer conversion specifiers than the  
     number of OBJ arguments, then Yorick supplies default specifiers  
     (" %8ld" for integers, " %14.6lg" for reals, " %s" for strings, and  
     " %8p" for pointers).  If FSTRING contains more specifiers than  
     there are OBJ arguments, the part of FSTRING beginning with the  
     first specifier with no OBJ is ignored.  
  
     The OBJ may be scalar or arrays, but the dimensions of the OBJ  
     must be conformable.  If the OBJ are arrays, Yorick behaves as  
     if he write were called in a loop dimsof(OBJ1, OBJ2, ...) times,  
     writing one array element of each of the OBJ according to FSTRING  
     on each pass through the loop.  The swrite function returns a  
     string array with dimensions dimsof(OBJ1, OBJ2, ...).  The write  
     function inserts a newline between passes through the array if  
     the line produced by the previous pass did not end with a  
     newline, and if the total number of characters output since the  
     previous inserted newline, plus the number of characters about  
     to be written on the current pass, would exceed L characters  
     (L defaults to 80).  The write function returns the total  
     number of characters output.  
  
     The FSTRING is composed of a series of "directives" which are  
     (1) characters other than % -- copied directly to output  
     (2) conversion specifiers beginning with % and ending with a  
         character specifying the type of conversion -- specify  
	 how to convert an OBJ into characters for output  
     The conversion specifier is of the form %FW.PSC, where:  
     F is zero or more optional flags:  
       - left justify in field width  
       + signed conversion will begin with either + or -  
         (space) signed conversion  will begin with either space or -  
       # alternate form (see description of each type below)  
       0 pad field width with leading 0s instead of leading spaces  
     W is either a decimal integer specifying the minimum field width  
       (padded as specified by flags), or not present to use the  
       minimum number of characters required.  
     .P is either a decimal integer specifying the precision of the  
       result, or not present to get the default.  For integers, this  
       is the number of digits to be printed (possibly forcing leading  
       zeroes), and defaults to 1.  For reals, this is the number of  
       digits after the decimal point, and defaults to 6.  For strings,  
       this is the maximum number of characters to print, and defaults  
       to infinity.  
     S is either one of the characters 'h', 'l', or 'L', or not  
       present.  Yorick allows this for compatibility with the C  
       library functions, but ignores it.  
     C is a character specifying the type of conversion:  
       d, i  - decimal integer  
       o     - octal integer (# forces leading 0)  
       u     - unsigned decimal integer (same as d for Yorick)  
       x, X            - hex integer (# forces leading 0x)  
       f     - floating point real in fixed point notation  
               (# forces decimal)  
       e, E  - floating point real in scientific notation  
       g, G  - floating point real in fixed or scientific notation  
               depending on the value converted (# forces decimal)  
       s   - string of ASCII characters  
       c   - integer printed as corresponding ASCII character  
       p   - pointer  
       %   - the ordinary % character; complete conversion  
             specification must be "%%"  
  
     The write function is modeled on the ANSI standard C library  
     fprintf and sprintf functions, but differs in several respects:  
       (1) Yorick's write cannot handle the %n conversion specifier  
           in FSTRING.  
       (2) Yorick's write may insert additional newlines if the OBJ  
           are arrays, to avoid extremely long output lines.  

unknown type function, documented at startup/std.i   line 1461