How can I fill out a Python string with spaces?

Question

I want to fill out a string with spaces. I know that the following works for zero\'s:

>>> print  \"\'%06d\'\"%4
\'000004\'

But wha

Answer 1

Wouldn't it be more pythonic to use slicing?

For example, to pad a string with spaces on the right until it's 10 characters long:

>>> x = "string"    
>>> (x + " " * 10)[:10]   
'string    '

To pad it with spaces on the left until it's 15 characters long:

>>> (" " * 15 + x)[-15:]
'         string'

It requires knowing how long you want to pad to, of course, but it doesn't require measuring the length of the string you're starting with.