CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rformattingstring-formatting
mat
mat

Reputation: 2617

R: sprintf to pad decimal number with leading white spaces

I'm trying to pad a decimal number with leading white spaces using the sprintf function.

For example, I would like to convert the following vector:

a <- c(1, 1.123, -1.123, 123)
[1]   1.000   1.123  -1.123 123.000

to (padding = 4):

[1] "   1.00"   "   1.12"   "  -1.12"   " 123.00"

I tried with sprintf("% 4.2f", a) but it produces the following result:

[1] " 1.00"   " 1.12"   "-1.12"   " 123.00"

Edit:

I know that it works with integers, i.e. sprintf("%4d", 123) will produce " 123", but I can't make it work with floating numbers.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 2845

Answers (1)

Rich Scriven
Rich Scriven

Reputation: 99331

Use %7.2f. 7 characters total, 2 to the right of the decimal.

sprintf("%7.2f", a)
# [1] "   1.00" "   1.12" "  -1.12" " 123.00"

Thanks for the hint from @Jota, we removed the space before 7.2f.

Upvotes: 7

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