Re: gawk - printf discards field-width when space modifier used

[David C. Rankin]

On 1/8/22 9:40 AM, Ed Morton wrote:
> Actually - I'm not sure how this series of ternary expressions gets 
> interpreted:
> 
>     printf j ? " % 4d%s" : "% 4d%s", rv, (j<cols-1) ? "" : ORS > "file.txt"
> 
> but when I just add parens to make it more readable and express what I think
> is your intent:
> 
>     printf (j ? " %4d%s" : "%4d%s"), rv, (j<cols-1 ? "" : ORS)

Thank you Ed,

  Not quite the same. I need both the "space modifier" so that either the
negative sign or space is provided and the "field-width" for alignment when
generating values between -5000 and 5000 for example.

  e.g.

  $ sh randvaluegen.sh 10 10 -5000 5000

  Using either the "space modifier" or "field-width" alone and the format is
fine, e.g.

    "% d"  or "%4d"

but when both are used:

    "% 4d"

  One or more of the field-width size is discarded.

  (and yes, good call, I'll pair down the example with another test, I thought
the 10 or so lines were fairly minimal -- but it should be more minimal in
hindsight)

-- 
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.