bug#12866: 24.3.50; (elisp) `%-Constructs': padded with spaces to the right or left?

[Drew Adams]

> > Sorry, I still don't get it.  To me, each of those 
> > statements suggests that the text in the field, in this
> > case the line number indication (e.g. "L25"), gets
> > padded by adding spaces on the right (i.e., after the 
> > text), up to the specified width.
> 
> I'm not native, but to me "padded ON the left/right" suggests where
> the padding goes, while "padded TO the left/right" seems to indicate
> alignment after padding.

No.  They both mean that the padding is added at/to/on the left/right of
whatever object is being padded.

And padding does not in itself have anything to do with alignment.  It just
refers to adding something to the target object, making it fatter/thicker/wider
etc. ;-)