bug#12866: 24.3.50; (elisp) `%-Constructs': padded with spaces to the right or left?

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> From: "Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com>
> Cc: <12866@debbugs.gnu.org>
> Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2012 19:45:33 -0800
> 
> > > (set (make-local-variable 'mode-line-position) '("%40l"))
> > >  
> > > It seems to me that that pads the line number with spaces 
> > > on the left, not the right.  But perhaps I'm missing something.
> > 
> > I think string formats, like %s, are padded to the right.  IOW, the
> > padding behaves like in C.
> 
> Dunno what that means.  Are you drawing a contrast with what you think?  Or with
> %s (subprocess status) vs %l for mode-line constructs?  Something else?
> 
> The padding for %l (in the mode line) is what this bug report is about.  AFAICT,
> the padding is put on the left.  Do you see something different from that?

The bug report contrasted the documentation with what the code does.
I pointed out that the documentation is only correct as far as string
formatting is concerned, but is incorrect wrt numerical formats, which
indeed pad on the left.  Hopefully, this will help you know the truth,
and will help someone to fix the documentation.