intro: "SJT" == Stephen J Turnbull <turnbull(a)sk.tsukuba.ac.jp&gt; writes: SJT> Nick Pakoulin in <d79zj3cl.fsf(a)ispras.ru&gt; points out that these are all SJT> failures of "format." SJT> Can somebody check out what format is returning and try to find out why? SJT> It isn't happening on Unix platforms. SJT> FAIL: Assertion failed: (string= (format "%e" 100) "1.000000e+02") SJT> FAIL: Assertion failed: (string= (format "%E" 100) "1.000000E+02") SJT> FAIL: Assertion failed: (string= (format "%g" 1e-006) "1e-06") SJT> FAIL: Assertion failed: (string= (format "%G" 1e-006) "1E-06") SJT> FAIL: Assertion failed: (string= (format "%#e" 100) "1.000000e+02") SJT> FAIL: Assertion failed: (string= (format "%#E" 100) "1.000000E+02") SJT> FAIL: Assertion failed: (string= (format "%#g" 1e-006) "1.00000e-06") SJT> FAIL: Assertion failed: (string= (format "%#G" 1e-006) "1.00000E-06") SJT> FAIL: Assertion failed: (string= (format "%e" 100) "1.000000e+02") SJT> FAIL: Assertion failed: (string= (format "%E" 100) "1.000000E+02") SJT> FAIL: Assertion failed: (string= (format "%g" 1e-006) "1e-06") SJT> FAIL: Assertion failed: (string= (format "%G" 1e-006) "1E-06") SJT> FAIL: Assertion failed: (string= (format "%#e" 100) "1.000000e+02") SJT> FAIL: Assertion failed: (string= (format "%#E" 100) "1.000000E+02") SJT> FAIL: Assertion failed: (string= (format "%#g" 1e-006) "1.00000e-06") SJT> FAIL: Assertion failed: (string= (format "%#G" 1e-006) "1.00000E-06") I think, the problem is in Microsoft's handling of floating-point `format' instructions. Our tests expect exponent to be two digits long. Their implementation of `sprintf' (Visual Studio 6.0, MS Windows 2000) makes it three digits long. I evaluated `(format "%??" xx)' from tests and here is what I got: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (string= (format "%e" 100) "1.000000e+02") ==> (string= "1.000000e+002" "1.000000e+02") (string= (format "%E" 100) "1.000000E+02") ==> (string= "1.000000E+002" "1.000000E+02") (string= (format "%g" 1e-006) "1e-06") ==> (string= "1e-006" "1e-06") (string= (format "%G" 1e-006) "1E-06") ==> (string= "1E-006" "1E-06") (string= (format "%#e" 100) "1.000000e+02") ==> (string= "1.000000e+002" "1.000000e+02") (string= (format "%#E" 100) "1.000000E+02") ==> (string= "1.000000E+002" "1.000000E+02") (string= (format "%#g" 1e-006) "1.00000e-06") ==> (string= "1.00000e-006" "1.00000e-06") (string= (format "%#G" 1e-006) "1.00000E-06") ==> (string= "1.00000E-006" "1.00000E-06") (string= (format "%e" 100) "1.000000e+02") ==> (string= "1.000000e+002" "1.000000e+02") (string= (format "%E" 100) "1.000000E+02") ==> (string= "1.000000E+002" "1.000000E+02") (string= (format "%g" 1e-006) "1e-06") ==> (string= "1e-006" "1e-06") (string= (format "%G" 1e-006) "1E-06") ==> (string= "1E-006" "1E-06") (string= (format "%#e" 100) "1.000000e+02") ==> (string= "1.000000e+002" "1.000000e+02") (string= (format "%#E" 100) "1.000000E+02") ==> (string= "1.000000E+002" "1.000000E+02") (string= (format "%#g" 1e-006) "1.00000e-06") ==> (string= "1.00000e-006" "1.00000e-06") (string= (format "%#G" 1e-006) "1.00000E-06") ==> (string= "1.00000E-006" "1.00000E-06") Nick.