So, the conclusion is that the performance improves if the 3rd parameter already has the appropriate length. Cool.

>>This is to let you all know that I discovered a really nice, undocumented feature of PADL(). It is present in at least vfp7 and higher.
>>
>>The 3rd parameter can be used to define the Pad Character, says the doc. However, this parameter can be of varying length! An example:
>>
>>

? "Result: " + padl( 123, 10, "#000000000" )
>>Result: #000000123

>
>Of course an immediate issue it is found ! grrr
>REPLICATE(char,nn) it is optimized.
>VFPT doesn't optimize PADX().
>Result, writing a more complex code is gotten a notably greater speed.
>
>

>CLEAR
>
>? PADL('123'	,100,'#')==PADL('123'	,100,REPLICATE('#',100))
>? PADL(123		,100,'#')==PADL(123		,100,REPLICATE('#',100))
>
>FOR K=1 TO 1000000
>NEXT
>
>LOOPCOUNT = 200000
>
>t1=SECONDS()
>FOR K=1 TO INT(M.LOOPCOUNT)
>	=PADL('123'	,100,'#')
>	=PADL('123'	,100,'#')
>	=PADL(123	,100,'#')
>NEXT
>
>? "DIRECT", SECONDS()-T1
>
>t1=SECONDS()
>
>FOR K=1 TO INT(M.LOOPCOUNT)
>	=PADL('123'	,100,REPLICATE('#',100))
>	=PADL('123'	,100,REPLICATE('#',100))
>	=PADL(123	,100,REPLICATE('#',100))
>NEXT
>
>? "INDIRECT",SECONDS()-T1
>