sS starFormat(S pat, O... args) {
  if (args.length == 0) ret pat;
  
  int n = l(pat), iArg = 0, iChar = 0;
  new StringBuilder buf;
  while true {
    int jChar = smartIndexOf(pat, iChar, '*');
    buf.add(substring(pat, iChar, jChar));
    
    if (jChar >= n) break;
    buf.add(str(get(args, iArg++)));
    jChar++;
  }
  
  ret str(buf);
}