//    This code is in the public domain. Feel free to link back to http://jan.moesen.nu/
        function sprintf()
        {
            if (!arguments || arguments.length < 1 || !RegExp)
            {
                return;
            }
            var str = arguments[0];
            var re = /([^%]*)%('.|0|\x20)?(-)?(\d+)?(\.\d+)?(%|b|c|d|u|f|o|s|x|X)(.*)/;
            var a = b = [], numSubstitutions = 0, numMatches = 0;
            while (a = re.exec(str))
            {
                var leftpart = a[1], pPad = a[2], pJustify = a[3], pMinLength = a[4];
                var pPrecision = a[5], pType = a[6], rightPart = a[7];

                //alert(a + '\n' + [a[0], leftpart, pPad, pJustify, pMinLength, pPrecision);

                numMatches++;
                if (pType == '%')
                {
                    subst = '%';
                }
                else
                {
                    numSubstitutions++;
                    if (numSubstitutions >= arguments.length)
                    {
                        alert('Error! Not enough function arguments (' + (arguments.length - 1) + ', excluding the string)\nfor the number of substitution parameters in string (' + numSubstitutions + ' so far).');
                    }
                    var param = arguments[numSubstitutions];
                    var pad = '';
                           if (pPad && pPad.substr(0,1) == "'") pad = leftpart.substr(1,1);
                      else if (pPad) pad = pPad;
                    var justifyRight = true;
                           if (pJustify && pJustify === "-") justifyRight = false;
                    var minLength = -1;
                           if (pMinLength) minLength = parseInt(pMinLength);
                    var precision = -1;
                           if (pPrecision && pType == 'f') precision = parseInt(pPrecision.substring(1));
                    var subst = param;
                           if (pType == 'b') subst = parseInt(param).toString(2);
                      else if (pType == 'c') subst = String.fromCharCode(parseInt(param));
                      else if (pType == 'd') subst = parseInt(param) ? parseInt(param) : 0;
                      else if (pType == 'u') subst = Math.abs(param);
                      else if (pType == 'f') subst = (precision > -1) ? Math.round(parseFloat(param) * Math.pow(10, precision)) / Math.pow(10, precision): parseFloat(param);
                      else if (pType == 'o') subst = parseInt(param).toString(8);
                      else if (pType == 's') subst = param;
                      else if (pType == 'x') subst = ('' + parseInt(param).toString(16)).toLowerCase();
                      else if (pType == 'X') subst = ('' + parseInt(param).toString(16)).toUpperCase();
                }
                str = leftpart + subst + rightPart;
            }
            return str;
        }