Template:OBSE Format Specifiers

OBSE Format Specifiers

In addition to the format specifiers supported by Oblivion's Message and MessageBox functions, OBSE functions understand additional specifiers (in alphabetic order).

%a - Prints the character corresponding to the specified ASCII code.

• Passing codes for unprintable characters (such as 0) may have unpredictable (though occasionally useful) results.
• Passing the code for a percent sign will most likely crash the game as literal percent signs must come in pairs.

%B - toggles blue text on for console output.

%b - toggles blue text off for console output.

• Example: "%BBlue%b suede shoes": when printed to the console, the word "Blue" will be printed in blue text.

%c - Prints the specified component of the specified reference or object.

Takes two arguments - a reference variable set to the spell or faction, and an index. Behaves differently depending on the passed reference:

• Faction: Prints the nth male rank title
• Magic Item: Prints the nth Magic Effect

• Prior to OBSE v0015, magic effects using actor values (such as Restore Agility) would not display the specific actor value.
• Actor values may not display correctly for non-English versions of Oblivion.

%e – replaced by nothing.

• Provides a workaround for the script compiler's refusal to accept an empty string as a command argument.
• Example:

SetNameEx "" object    ; attempts to remove an object's name, but won't compile
SetNameEx "%e" object  ; sets the name to an empty string

• Can be used outside of format strings. When included in any string literal, %e will be replaced by an empty string.

%i - Prints the FormID of the specified reference or object.

• GOTCHA : as of v18, if a refVar is passed which points to a ref not loaded in memory %i will print 00000000 even if the refVar is not empty.

%k - Prints the name of the key for the specified DirectInput scancode, such as those used for IsKeyPressed2.

%n - Prints the name of the specified reference or object.

• In OBSE versions prior to v0014a, %n can crash if the object's name contains a percent sign.

%p - Displays a pronoun based on the gender of the object parameter:

• %po - objective (him, her, it)
• %pp - possessive (his, her, its)
• %ps - subjective (he, she, it)

%q - Prints a double quote character.

• Can be used outside of format strings. When included in any string literal, %q will be replaced by a double quote

%r - Prints a carriage return, ending the current line and starting at the next.

• Can be used outside of format strings. When included in any string literal, %r will be replaced by a carriage return.

%v - Prints the actor value (i.e. an attribute or skill) associated with the passed actor value code.

%x - Prints an integer in hexadecimal format.

An optional digit from 0-9 immediately following this specifier indicates the minimum width of the displayed value.

• For example, MessageEx "%x4" 255 will display "00FF".

%z – Prints the contents of a string variable.

• Example: sv_construct “The string is: %z” MyStringVar

%{...%} - Conditionally displays or omits the bracketed portion of the format string based on a boolean value. Accepts a variable - if the value of the variable is zero, all text and parameters up to the matching right bracket will be ignored. Otherwise the bracketed text will be displayed.

• Example (should be single-line, line-breaks added for Wiki)

MBoxEX "Doom comes%{ for you%}. What will you do?
|Dig a hole, hide
%{|Find someone, offer as sacrifice|Find someone, use as shield%}
|Enjoy your final 15 minutes" bDisplay bDisplay

If bDisplay is 0 this will print out

   Doom comes. What will you do?
   [Dig a hole, hide]
   [Enjoy your final 15 minutes]

If bDisplay is 1 this will print out

   Doom comes for you. What will you do?
   [Dig a hole, hide]
   [Find someone, offer as sacrifice]
   [Find someone, use as shield]
   [Enjoy your final 15 minutes]

• Note: When using GetButtonPressed with messageboxes that can have a variable number of buttons displayed using %{...%}, the return value will be relative to the actual number of buttons displayed and will not include buttons hidden by %{...%}.