public String format(String s){
  if (fmt != 's')   throw new java.lang.IllegalArgumentException();
  if (precision >= 0 && precision < s.length())   s=s.substring(0,precision);
  return pad(s);
}

public String format ( String s ) { if ( fmt != 's' ) throw new java . lang . IllegalArgumentException ( ) ; if ( precision >= 0 && precision < s . length ( ) ) s = s . substring ( 0 , precision ) ; return pad ( s ) ; }
formats a string into a larger string ( like sprintf in c )
