$ perl -e '
    my $x = "12345";
    my $y = "1234567890";

    printf q{%-*2$s|}."\n", $x, 9;
    printf q{%-*2$s|}."\n", $y, 9;

    printf q{%-.*2$s|}."\n", $x, 9;
    printf q{%-.*2$s|}."\n", $y, 9;

    printf q{%-*2$.*2$s|}."\n", $x, 9;
    printf q{%-*2$.*2$s|}."\n", $y, 9;

    printf q{%-*2$.*3$s|}."\n", $x, 10, 9;
    printf q{%-*2$.*3$s|}."\n", $y, 10, 9;
'
12345    |
1234567890|
12345|
123456789|
12345    |
123456789|
12345     |
123456789 |