Is there a JavaScript function that can pad a string to get to a determined length?

Question

I am in need of a JavaScript function which can take a value and pad it to a given length (I need spaces, but anything would do). I found this:

Code:

Answer 1

Array manipulations are really slow compared to simple string concat. Of course, benchmark for your use case.

function(string, length, pad_char, append) {
    string = string.toString();
    length = parseInt(length) || 1;
    pad_char = pad_char || ' ';

    while (string.length < length) {
        string = append ? string+pad_char : pad_char+string;
    }
    return string;
};