question: private String printOFormat ( String sx ) { int nLeadingZeros = 0 ; int nBlanks = 0 ; if ( sx . equals ( "0" ) && precisionSet && precision == 0 ) sx = "" ; if ( precisionSet ) nLeadingZeros = precision - sx . length ( ) ; if ( alternateForm ) nLeadingZeros ++ ; if ( nLeadingZeros < 0 ) nLeadingZeros = 0 ; if ( fieldWidthSet ) nBlanks = fieldWidth - nLeadingZeros - sx . length ( ) ; if ( nBlanks < 0 ) nBlanks = 0 ; int n = nLeadingZeros + sx . length ( ) + nBlanks ; char [ ] ca = new char [ n ] ; int i ; if ( leftJustify ) { for ( i = 0 ; i < nLeadingZeros ; i ++ ) ca [ i ] = '0' ; char [ ] csx = sx . toCharArray ( ) ; for ( int j = 0 ; j < csx . length ; j ++ , i ++ ) ca [ i ] = csx [ j ] ; for ( int j = 0 ; j < nBlanks ; j ++ , i ++ ) ca [ i ] = ' ' ; } else { if ( leadingZeros ) for ( i = 0 ; i < nBlanks ; i ++ ) ca [ i ] = '0' ; else for ( i = 0 ; i < nBlanks ; i ++ ) ca [ i ] = ' ' ; for ( int j = 0 ; j < nLeadingZeros ; j ++ , i ++ ) ca [ i ] = '0' ; char [ ] csx = sx . toCharArray ( ) ; for ( int j = 0 ; j < csx . length ; j ++ , i ++ ) ca [ i ] = csx [ j ] ; } return new String ( ca ) ; }
target:  Utility method for formatting using the o conversion character.