formatted printing

[ATHIRA P]

sir,

a=2.0/3
print a
print'a=%5.3f'%(a)

in the above python code what is the use of 5 in 5.3.i think 3 is the number of decimal places.but i cant understand what is this 5 represnts.pleas e help me.

[bvdet]

The 5 in the 5.3 is the minimum field width. If a negative number, the padding occurs on the right.

>>> n = 20000000.123456789
>>> print "n = %5.3f" % (n)
n = 20000000.123
>>> n = 0.123456789
>>> print "n = %5.3f" % (n)
n = 0.123
>>> print "n = %50.3f" % (n)
n =                                              0.123
>>>