Description
Accept auto, always, never or except-zero policy.
Alignment requires a declared measure of width. ASCII token characters, supplied display-cell widths and actual rendered glyph widths are different, so a column budget is meaningful only under its stated convention.
Accept auto, always, never or except-zero policy.
When to use this tool
Use Mantissa Sign Field Width when you need a supplied field-width or padding calculation.
How to use the tool and how it works
- Enter negative, zero, policy. Use the units and conventions below.
- Run the tool. Correct any format, range, or cross-field input error before interpreting the output.
- Read signColumns, signToken. Use the output convention below.
Accept auto, always, never or except-zero policy. Choose minus from negative, plus under the positive policies, or empty as required, and return sign token and its length.1
| Input field | Meaning and units | Accepted input |
|---|---|---|
| negative | Negative | Required. Boolean. |
| zero | Supplied zero-status flag; no mantissa is parsed. | Required. Boolean. |
| policy | Policy | Required. Text; one of "auto", "always", "never", "except-zero"; maximum UTF-16 length 8192. |
| Output field | Interpretation | Returned shape |
|---|---|---|
| signColumns | Sign Columns | Required. Safe integer. |
| signToken | Sign Token | Required. Text; maximum UTF-16 length 8192. |
{
"input": {
"negative": false,
"zero": false,
"policy": "always"
},
"output": {
"signColumns": 1,
"signToken": "+"
}
}Limitations and assumptions
- The negative and zero flags are independent supplied metadata. No mantissa is inspected; signColumns describes these one-character ASCII tokens only.
- Inputs must satisfy both the field types and the cross-field conditions above. Invalid input causes an error; a successful false flag or documented placeholder is a different result.
Alternative or Complementary methods
Measure text in the actual font, terminal or output environment when visual alignment matters. Account for encoding, combining marks, wide characters and locale rather than inferring display width from text length alone.
References
Similar or alternative tools
- Mantissa Exponent Field Width
Parse a signed decimal mantissa with optional e/E signed integer exponent.
- Decimal Sign Column Offset
Count an explicit sign and add that one-column offset to columnStart for the first digit, including the negative accounting-parenthesis case.