hello Rodrigo,
try
$ awk 'BEGIN{ print sprintf("%05d, %06.2f", 23, 4.5) }'
00023, 004.50

the '6' in "%06.2f" is the minimum width of the outputed float.
(including the decimal point and the fraction part.)
EG:
$ awk 'BEGIN{ print length(sprintf("%06.2f", 4.5)) }'
6

the 2 in "%06.2f" is the minimum width of the fraction part.
EGs:
pattern output
"%06.2f" 004.50
"%06.3f" 04.500
"%06.4f" 4.5000
"%06.5f" 4.50000
"%06.6f" 4.500000

hope this helps
+m
za (Adam Onza)

--- In geeksthatgawk@yahoogroups.com, "Rodrigo Hjort"
<rodrigo_hjort@y...> wrote:
> Hi, AWK users!
>
> When using sprintf() to format float numbers with left padding zeroes,
> it doesn't work. For example, the output desired below should be
> "00023, 004.50".
>
> $ awk 'BEGIN{ print sprintf("%05d, %03.2f", 23, 4.5) }'
> 00023, 4.50
>
> Does anyone ever had this problem? Should this be an AWK bug?
> These codes were performed on mawk version 1.3.3-11.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Rodrigo Hjort
>
> http://rhjort.cjb.net/
>
> Linux User #348191 (http://counter.li.org)