st: file write vs. display; trimming; string()

[David Kantor <dkantor@jhu.edu>]

Hi.

I have a little problem which I wonder if any of you have dealt with.

If I do
 display %5.0g 23

I get "   23", that is, the textual form of the number is right-justified 
in a field of five characters.
(In real life, I have something more complex in place of the 23.)

Nut if I do
 file write filehandle 5%.0g (23)

then the leading spaces are trimmed, and thus it is no longer right-justified.

I thought I could use string(23, "5%.0g"), but this, too, trims spaces.

I can think of a solution (untested):
 local t1 = string(23, "5%.0g")
 local len1 = length("`t1'")
 local len2 = 5 - `len1'
 file write filehandle  _dup(`len2') " " "`t1'"

-- but I wonder if there is a simpler solution that I've overlooked.

Thanks if anyone can help.
-- David


David Kantor
Institute for Policy Studies
Johns Hopkins University
dkantor@jhu.edu
410-516-5404

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