From: Wayne Scott <wscott@...>
Date: 2001-05-19T05:41:21+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:15380] Re: ruby bugs

From: Mathieu Bouchard <matju@sympatico.ca>
> Bug report.
> 
> 
> The expression:
> 
> 	printf "%x", -42
> 
> shows:
> 
> 	..fd6
> 
> I assert that it should show:
> 
> 	-2a
> 
> that is, the same as:
> 
> 	printf "%s%x", (-42<0) ? "-" : "", (-42).abs
> 
> matju

printf specifies that the 'x' format is unsigned and Ruby has
arbitrary precision integers.

So the real value is:

   fffffffffffffd6  (but with many more 'f's)

Ruby just adds '..f' to show that the f's go on forever.

Normally you add a field width to show the number of bits you want in
the output.

sprintf "%.8x", -42   => "ffffffd6"

-Wayne