#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

my $textlength=3;
my $numlength=1;  # on purpose too narrow

my $fmt = "%-$textlength".'s '."%$numlength"."d\n";
print "format is:$fmt";
printf $fmt, "a",1;
printf $fmt, "abc",123;
printf $fmt, "abcdef",12345;

__END__
prints:
format is:%-3s %1d
a   1
abc 123
abcdef 12345
[download]

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

use List::Util qw(sum);

my ($FreqP, $FreqN, $FreqZ) = map {int rand 41600} 0..2;
my $Sum = sum($FreqP, $FreqN, $FreqZ);

printf ( "Freq(Z+): %19d\n" , $FreqP) ;
printf ( "Freq(Z-): %19d\n" , $FreqN) ;
printf ( "Freq(0):  %19d\n" , $FreqZ) ;
printf ( "Total:    %19d\n" , $Sum) ;

__END__
Freq(Z+):               11640
Freq(Z-):                3527
Freq(0):                33243
Total:                  48410
[download]

my $fmt = "%-$textlength".'s '."%$numlength"."d\n";


I don't see the point of all the dots. I think I would have used a straight double-quote interpolation:
    my $fmt = "%-${textlength}s %${numlength}d\n";
It seems clearer to my eye IMHO.

I like uniformity in the code ...

I like it too, and also the idea of reducing code to data. If I were to go all the way with this, I might write something like this (which also takes care of a common colon that's running through all the strings):

c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le
"use List::Util qw(sum);
 ;;
 my $Sum = sum my ($FreqP, $FreqN, $FreqZ) = map { int rand 41600 } 0.
+.2;
 ;;
 my @rows = (
   ['Freq(Z+)', $FreqP], ['Freq(Z-)', $FreqN], ['Freq(0)', $FreqZ], ['
+Total', $Sum],
   );
 ;;
 my $txtwidth =  9;
 my $numwidth = 16;
 ;;
 my $fmt = qq{%-*s %*d \n};
 printf $fmt, $txtwidth, qq{$_->[0]:}, $numwidth, $_->[1] for @rows;
"
Freq(Z+):            25578
Freq(Z-):            39490
Freq(0):             13091
Total:               78159
[download]

The  $fmt string can now be generated/stored/retrieved entirely independently, data to be printed are pure data, etc.

But this is all probably overkill...

---

Give a man a fish:  <%-{-{-{-<

my $fmt = "%-$textlength".'s '."%$numlength"."d\n";
I don't see the point of all the dots.

I did that to avoid the {} syntax which can confuse beginners.

Your wrote: I think I would have used a straight double-quote interpolation:  my $fmt = "%-${textlength}s %${numlength}d\n"; It seems clearer to my eye IMHO. Yes, I agree IF the OP understands the curly bracket context here.