printf and variable length?

[Daemonice]

Hello,

I am using the below statement. It writes exactly 19 positions,
padding the right of the string with spaces if need be.

printf DB "%-19s",$value;

However, now I need to write $fieldlength positions. I cannot find how
I can combine printf with $fieldlength. Is this possible, or should I
first format my string and then print it? What is the most ecomical
way to do this?

TIA,
Daemonice.

 

[Tad McClellan]

printf DB "%-19s",$value;

However, now I need to write $fieldlength positions. I cannot find how
I can combine printf with $fieldlength.

You can disambiguate the name of the variable with curly braces
(so that the "s" is not part of the variable name):

printf DB "%-${fieldlength}s", $value;

 

[Daemonice]

Thanks to everybody who answered, it was very useful for me!