format(float("0.12345"), "7.0")  ->  '    0.1'
The default alignment should be 'left-aligned'.

Hmm.  PEP 3101 does indeed say that left-aligned is the default, but it's
a bit of a strange default for numeric types.  I'd expect integers (at
least) to be right-aligned by default.
I'd be inclined to say that the current float formatting is correct, and
that it's the Decimal formatting that's wrong.

That is interesting. I'd agree that it's a bug in the PEP. Note that
%-formatting right aligns floats by default:
>>> '%7.0g' % 0.12345
'    0.1'
I'll raise the issue on python-dev.
Eric.

I've changed the default alignment for Decimal instances to right-aligned
(so that it agrees with floats and ints) in r74723 (trunk), r74725 (py3k),
as agreed in the python-dev thread starting at:
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2009-September/091640.html

Thanks for the decimal work, Mark. I notice that complex is also left
aligned, by default. I'll take a look at that.

With the fixes for complex in issue 7988, I believe this issue is completed.

resolution: accepted
stage: resolved