padding variables in bash

This is a quick, but very helpful little script I found out on the net for padding variables.

#!/bin/bash


function lpad
{
word="$1"
while [ ${#word} -lt $2 ]; do
word="$3$word";
done;
echo "$word";
}

function rpad {
word="$1"
while [ ${#word} -lt $2 ]; do
word="$word$3";
done;
echo "$word";
}

lpad 3 5 0

rpad fooby 20 ^