-/* Formats a value according to FORMAT
- The returned string must be freed when no longer required */
+/* Formats a value according to VAR's print format and strips white space
+ appropriately for VAR's type. That is, if VAR is numeric, strips leading
+ white space (because numbers are right-justified within their fields), and
+ if VAR is string, strips trailing white space (because spaces pad out string
+ values on the right).
+
+ Returns an allocated string. The returned string must be freed when no
+ longer required. */