Doc: left alignment is not the default for numbers

[terryjreedy]

BPO	8691
Nosy	@birkenfeld, @terryjreedy, @ericvsmith, @merwok
Files	py3k-8691.diff

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = 'https://github.com/ericvsmith'
closed_at = <Date 2011-02-07.12:15:41.534>
created_at = <Date 2010-05-11.20:21:16.618>
labels = ['docs']
title = 'Doc: left alignment is not the default for numbers'
updated_at = <Date 2011-02-07.12:15:41.533>
user = 'https://github.com/terryjreedy'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2011-02-07.12:15:41.533>
actor = 'georg.brandl'
assignee = 'eric.smith'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2011-02-07.12:15:41.534>
closer = 'georg.brandl'
components = ['Documentation']
creation = <Date 2010-05-11.20:21:16.618>
creator = 'terry.reedy'
dependencies = []
files = ['20694']
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 8691
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 6.0
messages = ['105536', '106262', '128041', '128059', '128069', '128108']
nosy_count = 6.0
nosy_names = ['georg.brandl', 'terry.reedy', 'eric.smith', 'eric.araujo', 'docs@python', 'westley.martinez']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = None
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = None
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue8691'
versions = ['Python 3.1', 'Python 2.7', 'Python 3.2']

[terryjreedy]

As reported on python-list by Alan G Isaac,
Lib Ref 6.1.3.1. Format Specification Mini-Language, for instance
http://docs.python.org/dev/py3k/library/string.html#formatstrings

wrongly says in the alignment section

"'<' Forces the field to be left-aligned within the available space (This is the default.)"

This latter, of course, is not true for number fields.

"(This is the default.)" could be replaced by "(the string default)."
(in any case, the '.' should be outside the () unless one is added after 'space' before '(') and "(the number default)" added to the next line. Or instead the issue of defaults could be addressed in the text below the table.

I am assuming that this issue affects 2.6/7.

[birkenfeld]

Eric should know the exact semantics best.

[westleymartinez]

It seems > is only the default for numbers. < is the default for strings, lists, sets, dicts, etc. I have made a patch, though Eric knows the exact semantics.

I wonder what the rationale for having numbers use < is.

[terryjreedy]

Georg & Eric, I believe this simple patch is correct, and should go in 3.2.

Westley, thanks for the patch. Numbers are right-aligned because that is the traditional default.

The committer should add Westley Martinez to misc/ACKS

[merwok]

Or to Doc/ACKS.txt, which I’ve recently discovered.

[birkenfeld]

Fixed in r88365.