${(l:field_length_expr::string1::string2:)…}: Left padding of words

l controls left-padding of the resulting words.

The padding of a word follows the following steps:

1. If defined, string2 is inserted once to the left of the word.
2. If the padded word is longer than field_length_expr, then it’s truncated to the field length.
   If the padded word is shorter than field_length_expr, then string1 is inserted as many times as necessary to reach the field length.

Options

field_length_expr

Length of the field to display each word. Longer words are truncated to fit into the field.

string1

Words shorter than a field are padded with this string on the left. If it’s empty, then $IFS is used.

string2

This string is inserted once to the left of a word before string1 is used as padding of the remaining space. If it’s empty, then $IFS is used.

Links

• Zsh manual on parameter expansion flags

Examples

Left-padding of array elements into a string

1 2	data=(a ab abc abcd) echo ${(l:5::-::_:)data}

Output:

1	---_a --_ab -_abc _abcd