 <p>A while back someone posted an mpl::string to the boost groups. I think it may actually have gotten into the library. If that is the case you could implement something like this by providing your template string as a template parameter (an mpl::string) and then using some pretty profound meta-programming skills to parse the formatting bits in it. Then you'd use this information to chose an implementation that has the appropriate argument count and types.</p> <p>No, I'm not going to do it for you :P It would be quite difficult. However, I do believe it would be possible.</p>