Commodore 128 System Manual page 299

Dollar Sign ($)
Four Carets (
Equal Sign (= )
Greater Than Sign (>)
The hash sign (#) reserves room for a single character in the
output field. With Numeric Data if the data item contains more
characters than there are # signs in the format field, the entire
field is filled with asterisks (*); no characters are printed.
EXAMPLE:
10 PRINT USING "# # # # " ;X
For these values of X, this format displays:
X = 12.34
X = 567.89
X = 123456
For a STRING item, the string data is truncated at the bounds of
the field. Only as many characters are printed as there are hash
signs (#) in the format item. Truncation occurs on the right.
The plus (+ ) and minus (-) signs can be used in either the first or
last position of a format field, but not both. The plus sign is printed
if the number is positive. The minus sign is printed if the number
is negative.
If a minus sign is used and the number is positive, a blank is
printed in the character position indicated by the minus sign.
If neither a plus nor a minus sign is used in the format field for a
numeric data item, a minus sign is printed before the first digit or
dollar symbol if the number is negative. No sign is printed if the
number is positive. This means that one additional character, the
minus sign, is printed if the number is negative. If there are too
many characters to fit into the field specified by the hash sign
and plus/m inus signs, then an overflow occurs and the field is
filled with asterisks (*).
)
X
X
12
568 Note that the number is
rounded up.
* * * *
X
X
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