Set length for System Variable

Is there a way to set a system variables length? We are running on HP/UX using ksh.

I have a variable length system variable but I always want the length to be 15. Currently we append using sed 15 characters to the end of the variable and then cut -c 1-15. Looking for a better way.

$ typeset -L15 a
$ a="abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
$ echo $a
abcdefghijklmno
$

Try using the typeset options that are available with ksh. Run man ksh and search for typeset. typeset -L left justifies and -R right justifies.