print format

[Dave Angel]

mattia wrote:
> Hi all, I wanto to print just the first 5 characters of a string, why 
> this doesn't work (py3.1)?
>   
>>>> print("{0:5}".format("123456789"))
>>>>         
> 123456789
> I know I could use print("123456789"[:5]), yeah it's a stupid example, 
> but isn't format for string formatting?
>
> Thanks, Mattia
>
>   
I tested following statement in 2.6, not 3.1, but I think it's the same.

The width field of the format is a *minimum* width.  So you can use it 
to force padding, but not truncation.  If you need the string truncated, 
just use slicing, as you already showed.

DaveA