var cache = [ '', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ' ]; function leftpad (str, len, ch) { // convert `str` to `string` str = str + ''; // `len` is the `pad`'s length now len = len - str.length; // doesn't need to pad if (len <= 0) return str; // `ch` defaults to `' '` if (!ch && ch !== 0) ch = ' '; // convert `ch` to `string` ch = ch + ''; // cache common use cases if (ch === ' ' && len < 10) return cache[len] + str; // `pad` starts with an empty string var pad = ''; // loop while (true) { // add `ch` to `pad` if `len` is odd if (len & 1) pad += ch; // divide `len` by 2, ditch the remainder len >>= 1; // "double" the `ch` so this operation count grows logarithmically on `len` // each time `ch` is "doubled", the `len` would need to be "doubled" too // similar to finding a value in binary search tree, hence O(log(n)) if (len) ch += ch; // `len` is 0, exit the loop else break; } // pad `str`! return pad + str; }