Groups > comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot > #1166

Re: How to print floats with leading blanks instead of leading zeros using sprintf?

From	valerasimonov@gmail.com
Newsgroups	comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot
Subject	Re: How to print floats with leading blanks instead of leading zeros using sprintf?
Date	2012-05-31 05:43 -0700
Organization	http://groups.google.com
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On Tuesday, May 29, 2012 12:33:00 PM UTC-4, Hans-Bernhard Bröker wrote:
> On 29.05.2012 04:56, valerasimonov@gmail.com wrote:
> 
> [...]
> >>> However gnuplot outputs: sprintf(' %3.0f',1)  "001"
> 
> >> No, it doesn't.
> [...]
> > What I want to print is "  1". Do you know how this task can be
> > accomplished?
> 
> You already knew yourself --- the command you tried did (pretty much)
> exactly that.  You just misinterpreted the actual result you saw because
> you looked at it in a proportional-font output format.
> 
> > About integers you are right again. But doesn't (although with
> > warnings) C transform int to float when necessary?
> 
> Not in these cases it wouldn't.  Variadic functions don't give the 
> compiler the information to apply such transformations automatically. 
> So if you tried a stunt like  printf("5.3f", 3) in a C program, you 
> would be giving the compiler and/or compiled program a legit excuse to 
> do whatever it pleases (the technical term is "undefined behaviour").
> 
> But that's rather beside the point, since you're using gnuplot here, not 
> C.  Yes, gnuplot is designed to imitate C, but the analogy cannot be 
> perfect.  gnuplot will convert automatically from float to integer and 
> vice versa, both without a warning.  It can do that because unlike C it 
> has information about the type of things even at run time.

Hans-Bernhard Bröker, thank you for your reply and elucidations!

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