diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/commons/lang/text/MappedMessageFormat.java b/src/java/org/apache/commons/lang/text/MappedMessageFormat.java
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+++ b/src/java/org/apache/commons/lang/text/MappedMessageFormat.java
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+/*
+ * Copyright 2002-2004 The Apache Software Foundation.
+ * 
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.commons.lang.text;
+
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+
+/**
+ * Provides the ability to substitute values from one or more maps into
+ * designated places within a string.
+ * <p>
+ * For example:
+ * <pre>
+ *   "User ${id} has uid ${uid} and path of env{path}"
+ * </pre>
+ * can be expanded using values from a map associated with "$" and a different
+ * map associated with "env".
+ * <p> 
+ * This class is similar to the java.text.MessageFormat class, but allows
+ * data to be retrieved from one or maps instead of from a single list.
+ * Unlike the MessageFormat class, however, it simply uses the result of 
+ * applying toString() to the referenced values in the map(s) and does not 
+ * support any "format" operations applied to the objects before substitution 
+ * into the target string.
+ *
+ * @since 2.1
+ */
+
+public class MappedMessageFormat {
+    private int nEntries = 0;
+    private ArrayList markers = new ArrayList(2);
+    private ArrayList sources = new ArrayList(2);
+    
+    public MappedMessageFormat() {
+    }
+    
+    /**
+     * Defines a source of data that can later be substituted into
+     * strings passed to the "format" methods.
+     */
+    public void addSource(String marker, Map source) {
+        ++nEntries;
+        markers.add(marker);
+        sources.add(source);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Expands any variable declarations using any of the known
+     * variable marker strings.
+     * 
+     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the input param references
+     * a variable which is not known to the specified source.
+     */
+    public String format(String param) {
+        for(int i=0; i<nEntries; ++i) {
+            param = format(
+                param, 
+                (String) markers.get(i), 
+                (Map) sources.get(i));
+        }
+        return param;
+    }
+    
+    /**
+     * Replace any occurrences within the string of the form
+     * "marker{key}" with the value from source[key].
+     * <p>
+     * Commonly, the variable marker is "$", in which case variables
+     * are indicated by ${key} in the string.
+     * <p>
+     * Returns the string after performing all substitutions.
+     * <p>
+     * If no substitutions were made, the input string object is
+     * returned (not a copy).
+     *
+     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the input param references
+     * a variable which is not known to the specified source.
+     */
+    public static String format(String str, String marker, Map source) {
+        String startMark = marker + "{";
+        int markLen = startMark.length();
+        
+        int index = 0;
+        for(;;)
+        {
+            index = str.indexOf(startMark, index);
+            if (index == -1)
+            {
+                return str;
+            }
+            
+            int startIndex = index + markLen;
+            if (startIndex > str.length())
+            {
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                    "var expression starts at end of string");
+            }
+            
+            int endIndex = str.indexOf("}", index + markLen);
+            if (endIndex == -1)
+            {
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                    "var expression starts but does not end");
+            }
+            
+            String key = str.substring(index+markLen, endIndex);
+            Object value =  source.get(key);
+            if (value == null) {
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                    "parameter [" + key + "] is not defined.");
+            }
+            String varValue = value.toString();
+            
+            str = str.substring(0, index) + varValue + str.substring(endIndex+1);
+            index += varValue.length();
+        }
+    }
+        
+}
+