# Bug in Printf?

**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/bug-in-printf/19919
**Category:** Internals & Design
**Created:** [January 22, 2019, 9:13am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/bug-in-printf/19919 "2019-01-22T09:13:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![gcalderone](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/gcalderone/32/1539_2.png) [@gcalderone](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/gcalderone)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2019, 9:13am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/bug-in-printf/19919/1 "2019-01-22T09:13:44Z")

</div>

Is the following a bug in Printf?

```julia
julia> using Printf

julia> @sprintf "%8.3g" 1.99e-5
"1.99e-05"

julia> @sprintf "%8.3g" 1.999e-5
"2e-05"

```

I would expect the resulting string to be 8 characters long in both cases, while in the second it is only 5 characters long. It looks like `@sprintf` is eating leading blanks.

For comparison, here’s the output from C’s `printf`:

```julia
1.99e-05
   2e-05

```

Should I submit a issue?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![kristoffer.carlsson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/kristoffer.carlsson/32/22_2.png) [@kristoffer.carlsson](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/kristoffer.carlsson)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2019, 9:16am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/bug-in-printf/19919/2 "2019-01-22T09:16:42Z")

</div>

[printf minimum width issue with %g · Issue #16977 · JuliaLang/julia · GitHub](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/issues/16977) maybe.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![gcalderone](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/gcalderone/32/1539_2.png) [@gcalderone](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/gcalderone)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2019, 9:20am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/bug-in-printf/19919/3 "2019-01-22T09:20:22Z")

</div>

Yes, it seems the same bug. Thank you.