An AppleScript Function to Zero Pad a Value

I wrote this subroutine tonight as I watched Game 5 of the ALCS.  It takes a number and a desired length and then zero pads it.

on zero_pad(value, string_length)
    set string_zeroes to ""
    set digits_to_pad to string_length - (length of (value as string))
    if digits_to_pad > 0 then
        repeat digits_to_pad times
            set string_zeroes to string_zeroes & "0" as string
        end repeat
    end if
    set padded_value to string_zeroes & value as string
    return padded_value
end zero_pad

You could call it like this:

set new_value to zero_pad(7, 3)

…which would return a well-known secret agent’s alias:

007

Or you could call it like this:

set month to zero_pad(month of (current date),2)

…which for September would return a nicely zero-padded month value:

09

This worked exactly as I wanted it to, but if anyone out there has a more efficient way to do it I would love to see it.

Tagged as: applescript