# Is there native function for cpad (center version of lpad/rpad)?
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-native-function-for-cpad-center-version-of-lpad-rpad/4045
**Category:** General Usage
**Tags:** question
**Created:** [June 1, 2017, 9:14pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-native-function-for-cpad-center-version-of-lpad-rpad/4045 "2017-06-01T21:14:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@djsegal](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/djsegal)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2017, 9:14pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-native-function-for-cpad-center-version-of-lpad-rpad/4045/1 "2017-06-01T21:14:08Z")
Is there a function in the native library to pad a string with ~equal spaces on both sides?
```julia
cpad("woof", 8)
```
would yield:
```julia
" woof "
```
---
### Author:  [@djsegal](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/djsegal)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2017, 9:17pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-native-function-for-cpad-center-version-of-lpad-rpad/4045/2 "2017-06-01T21:17:37Z")
Apparently there is in base somewhere.
I just don’t know how to access it… ☹
[https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/da69be277435098c94d1a038df01cbc208fac143/base/strings/util.jl#L249](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/da69be277435098c94d1a038df01cbc208fac143/base/strings/util.jl#L249)
---
### Author:  [@dpsanders](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/dpsanders)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-native-function-for-cpad-center-version-of-lpad-rpad/4045/3 "2017-06-01T21:18:07Z")
```julia
julia> Base.cpad("March", 10)
" March "
```
---
### Author:  [@dpsanders](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/dpsanders)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-native-function-for-cpad-center-version-of-lpad-rpad/4045/4 "2017-06-01T21:18:52Z")
Seems like there’s a whole host of string manipulation functions that could be moved out into a package.
---
### Author:  [@djsegal](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/djsegal)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2017, 9:22pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-native-function-for-cpad-center-version-of-lpad-rpad/4045/5 "2017-06-01T21:22:49Z")
Also, `cpad` doesn’t work on symbols (like `lpad` and `rpad` do)
---
### Author:  [@dpsanders](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/dpsanders)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2017, 9:41pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-native-function-for-cpad-center-version-of-lpad-rpad/4045/6 "2017-06-01T21:41:08Z")
```julia
Base.cpad(s::Symbol, i::Integer) = Base.cpad(string(s), i)
```
Seems like `cpad` could be exported if `lpad` and `rpad` are.
I wonder if this is another case where there should just be a single `pad` function that all of these can be rolled into?
---
### Author:  [@djsegal](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/djsegal)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2017, 4:28am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-native-function-for-cpad-center-version-of-lpad-rpad/4045/7 "2017-06-02T04:28:22Z")
Created a github issue to help resolve this:
- [issue#22184](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/issues/22184)