Using the "%s" specifier is appropriate for all message arguments unless the arguments must be reordered. Since the word order in messages may vary by language, a format specifier,%#$s, enables the reordering of arguments in a message; the "#" character is a number from 1 to 99.

In an English SMC file, the entry might resemble:

301 {"%s:Setting cookie for proc=%s, PID = %s"}

In a language where the position of message arguments need to switch, the same entry in the SMC file for that language might resemble:

301 {"%s:Setting cookie for process with PID = %3$s, name =
%2$s"}