diff --git a/chameleonic.p8 b/chameleonic.p8
index bc9028a..2522e0c 100644
--- a/chameleonic.p8
+++ b/chameleonic.p8
@@ -38,6 +38,29 @@ function cycle(tbl,period)
  return tbl[t()%period*#tbl\period+1]
 end
 
+-- fake sprintf function
+-- %% for literal "%"
+-- %v for param
+
+function sprintf(fmt, ...)
+ local out, i = "", 1
+ for s in all(split(fmt,"%")) do
+  local m = s[1]
+  if m == "%" then
+   out ..= "%"
+  else
+   local p = select(i,...)
+   i+=1
+   if m == "v" then
+    out ..= select(i,...)
+   else
+    out ..= "(?!:"..m..":"..tostr(p)..")"
+   end
+  out ..=sub(s,2)
+ end
+ return out
+end
+
 mnames={}
 function names(root)
  local n=mnames[root]