diff lispref/strings.texi @ 72267:698c7a5192be

(Formatting Strings): Warn against arbitrary strings as first arg to `format'.

--- a/lispref/strings.texi	Fri Aug 04 02:50:10 2006 +0000
+++ b/lispref/strings.texi	Fri Aug 04 10:42:14 2006 +0000
@@ -701,7 +701,6 @@
 
 The characters in @var{string}, other than the format specifications,
 are copied directly into the output; if they have text properties,
-these are copied into the output also.
 @end defun
 
 @cindex @samp{%} in format
@@ -719,6 +718,17 @@
 @end group
 @end example
 
+  Since @code{format} interprets @samp{%} characters as format
+specifications, you should @emph{never} pass an arbitrary string as
+the first argument.  This is particularly true when the string is
+generated by some Lisp code.  Unless the string is @emph{known} to
+never include any @samp{%} characters, pass @code{"%s"}, described
+below, as the first argument, and the string as the second, like this:
+
+@example
+  (format "%s" @var{arbitrary-string})
+@end example
+
   If @var{string} contains more than one format specification, the
 format specifications correspond to successive values from
 @var{objects}.  Thus, the first format specification in @var{string}