diff --git a/src/text.cpp b/src/text.cpp
index fa329a8db..8367ab49e 100644
--- a/src/text.cpp
+++ b/src/text.cpp
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ extern Context context;
 static const char* newline = "\n";
 static const char* noline  = "";
 
+static void replace_positional (std::string&, const std::string&, const std::string&);
+
 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 void wrapText (
   std::vector <std::string>& lines,
@@ -726,7 +728,7 @@ std::string cutOff (const std::string& str, std::string::size_type len)
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-std::string format (char value)
+const std::string format (char value)
 {
   std::stringstream s;
   s << value;
@@ -734,7 +736,7 @@ std::string format (char value)
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-std::string format (int value)
+const std::string format (int value)
 {
   std::stringstream s;
   s << value;
@@ -742,7 +744,7 @@ std::string format (int value)
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-std::string formatHex (int value)
+const std::string formatHex (int value)
 {
   std::stringstream s;
   s.setf (std::ios::hex, std::ios::basefield);
@@ -751,7 +753,7 @@ std::string formatHex (int value)
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-std::string format (float value, int width, int precision)
+const std::string format (float value, int width, int precision)
 {
   std::stringstream s;
   s.width (width);
@@ -761,7 +763,7 @@ std::string format (float value, int width, int precision)
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-std::string format (double value, int width, int precision)
+const std::string format (double value, int width, int precision)
 {
   std::stringstream s;
   s.width (width);
@@ -771,13 +773,109 @@ std::string format (double value, int width, int precision)
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-std::string format (double value)
+const std::string format (double value)
 {
   std::stringstream s;
   s << value;
   return s.str ();
 }
 
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+static void replace_positional (
+  std::string& fmt,
+  const std::string& from,
+  const std::string& to)
+{
+  std::string::size_type pos = 0;
+  while ((pos = fmt.find (from, pos)) != std::string::npos)
+  {
+    fmt.replace (pos, from.length (), to);
+    pos += to.length ();
+  }
+}
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+const std::string format (
+  const std::string& fmt,
+  const std::string& arg1)
+{
+  std::string output = fmt;
+  replace_positional (output, "{1}", arg1);
+  return output;
+}
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+const std::string format (
+  const std::string& fmt,
+  int arg1)
+{
+  std::string output = fmt;
+  replace_positional (output, "{1}", format (arg1));
+  return output;
+}
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+const std::string format (
+  const std::string& fmt,
+  const std::string& arg1,
+  const std::string& arg2)
+{
+  std::string output = fmt;
+  replace_positional (output, "{1}", arg1);
+  replace_positional (output, "{2}", arg2);
+  return output;
+}
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+const std::string format (
+  const std::string& fmt,
+  const std::string& arg1,
+  int arg2)
+{
+  std::string output = fmt;
+  replace_positional (output, "{1}", arg1);
+  replace_positional (output, "{2}", format (arg2));
+  return output;
+}
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+const std::string format (
+  const std::string& fmt,
+  int arg1,
+  const std::string& arg2)
+{
+  std::string output = fmt;
+  replace_positional (output, "{1}", format (arg1));
+  replace_positional (output, "{2}", arg2);
+  return output;
+}
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+const std::string format (
+  const std::string& fmt,
+  int arg1,
+  int arg2)
+{
+  std::string output = fmt;
+  replace_positional (output, "{1}", format (arg1));
+  replace_positional (output, "{2}", format (arg2));
+  return output;
+}
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+const std::string format (
+  const std::string& fmt,
+  const std::string& arg1,
+  const std::string& arg2,
+  const std::string& arg3)
+{
+  std::string output = fmt;
+  replace_positional (output, "{1}", arg1);
+  replace_positional (output, "{2}", arg2);
+  replace_positional (output, "{3}", arg3);
+  return output;
+}
+
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 std::string leftJustify (const int input, const int width)
 {
diff --git a/src/text.h b/src/text.h
index b82695ec4..144226bc4 100644
--- a/src/text.h
+++ b/src/text.h
@@ -64,12 +64,20 @@ std::string::size_type find (const std::string&, const std::string&, bool sensit
 std::string::size_type find (const std::string&, const std::string&, std::string::size_type, bool sensitive = true);
 int strippedLength (const std::string&);
 std::string cutOff (const std::string&, std::string::size_type);
-std::string format (char);
-std::string format (int);
-std::string formatHex (int);
-std::string format (float, int, int);
-std::string format (double, int, int);
-std::string format (double);
+const std::string format (char);
+const std::string format (int);
+const std::string formatHex (int);
+const std::string format (float, int, int);
+const std::string format (double, int, int);
+const std::string format (double);
+const std::string format (const std::string&, const std::string&);
+const std::string format (const std::string&, int);
+const std::string format (const std::string&, const std::string&, const std::string&);
+const std::string format (const std::string&, const std::string&, int);
+const std::string format (const std::string&, int, const std::string& arg2);
+const std::string format (const std::string&, int, int);
+const std::string format (const std::string&, const std::string&, const std::string&, const std::string&);
+
 std::string leftJustify (const int, const int);
 std::string leftJustify (const std::string&, const int);
 std::string rightJustify (const int, const int);
diff --git a/test/.gitignore b/test/.gitignore
index cc60fbb39..33c6f6bba 100644
--- a/test/.gitignore
+++ b/test/.gitignore
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ dom.t
 duration.t
 file.t
 filt.t
+i18n.t
 json.t
 lisp.t
 list.t
diff --git a/test/CMakeLists.txt b/test/CMakeLists.txt
index c69ef7ca2..6069bbf67 100644
--- a/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ include_directories (${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src
                      ${TASK_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 
 set (test_SRCS att.t autocomplete.t color.t config.t date.t directory.t dom.t
-               duration.t file.t filt.t json.t list.t nibbler.t path.t
+               duration.t file.t filt.t i18n.t json.t list.t nibbler.t path.t
                record.t rx.t seq.t subst.t t.benchmark.t t.t taskmod.t tdb.t
                tdb2.t text.t uri.t util.t variant.t view.t json_test)
 
diff --git a/test/i18n.t.cpp b/test/i18n.t.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2259fb50a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/i18n.t.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+// taskwarrior - a command line task list manager.
+//
+// Copyright 2006 - 2011, Paul Beckingham, Federico Hernandez.
+// All rights reserved.
+//
+// This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
+// the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
+// Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
+// version.
+//
+// This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+// ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS
+// FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more
+// details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
+// this program; if not, write to the
+//
+//     Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+//     51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
+//     Boston, MA
+//     02110-1301
+//     USA
+//
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+#include <iostream>
+#include <string>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <stdarg.h>
+
+#include <Context.h>
+#include <text.h>
+#include <test.h>
+
+Context context;
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+int main (int argc, char** argv)
+{
+  UnitTest t (11);
+
+  try
+  {
+    t.is (format ("pre {1} post",    "mid"),        "pre mid post",    "format 1a");
+    t.is (format ("pre {1}{1} post", "mid"),        "pre midmid post", "format 1b");
+    t.is (format ("pre {1} post",    0),            "pre 0 post",      "format 1c");
+    t.is (format ("pre {1}{1} post", 0),            "pre 00 post",     "format 1d");
+
+    t.is (format ("pre {1}{2} post", "one", "two"), "pre onetwo post", "format 2a");
+    t.is (format ("pre {2}{1} post", "one", "two"), "pre twoone post", "format 2b");
+    t.is (format ("pre {1}{2} post", "one", 2),     "pre one2 post",   "format 2c");
+    t.is (format ("pre {1}{2} post", 1, "two"),     "pre 1two post",   "format 2d");
+    t.is (format ("pre {1}{2} post", 1, 2),         "pre 12 post",     "format 2e");
+
+    t.is (format ("pre {1}{2}{3} post", "one", "two", "three"), "pre onetwothree post", "format 3a");
+    t.is (format ("pre {3}{1}{2} post", "one", "two", "three"), "pre threeonetwo post", "format 3b");
+  }
+
+  catch (std::string& error)
+  {
+    t.diag (error);
+    return -1;
+  }
+
+  catch (...)
+  {
+    t.diag ("Unknown error.");
+    return -2;
+  }
+
+  return 0;
+}
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////