use strict;
use warnings;


for (
["test", "l", 10, "*"],
["test", "r", 10, "*"],
["test", "l", 4, "*"],
["test", "r", 4, "*"],
["test", "l", 2, "*"],
["test", "r", 2, "*"],
["test", "l", 10],
["test", "r", 10],
["test", "l", 4],
["test", "r", 4],
["test", "l", 2],
["test", "r", 2],
)
{
    my $padded = pad (@{$_});
    print "=$padded=\n";
}

sub pad
{
    my $string     = shift || die "no string";
    my $direction  = shift || die "no direction";
    my $length     = shift || die "no lenght";
    my $char       = shift || " ";

    my $pad_length = $length - length($string);

    return $string if $pad_length <= 0;

    my $pad_string = $char x $pad_length;

    if ( $direction =~ /^l/i )
    {
        return $pad_string.$string;
    }
    elsif ( $direction =~ /^r/i )
    {
        return $string.$pad_string;
    }
    else
    {
        die "unknown direction";
    }
}