From: Dave Burt <dave@...>
Date: 2005-12-22T10:37:49+09:00
Subject: Re: sprintf

> irb(main):004:0> sprintf("%2s", "lalaa")
> => "lalaa"
> irb(main):005:0> sprintf("%2i", 1212)
> => "1212"
>
> What s my mistake?

Daniel Sheppard wrote:
> sprintf("%2.2s","lalaa")
>     ==>"la"
>
> u can't do the equivalent for a number (as the precision setting for a
> number specifies decimal places).

You _can_ do the equivalent for a number two ways that I can think of:

sprintf("%i", 1212 % 10**2)  #=> "12"  # modular arithmetic to truncate high 
digits
sprintf("%.2s", 1212)  #=> "12"  # cast integer to string

Also, I usually like using String#% instead of sprintf, just in case you're 
not familiar with it:

"%.2s" % 1212  #=> "12"

Cheers,
Dave