FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
java version "1.8.0"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0-b132)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.0-b70, mixed mode)


ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Linux tim-desktop 3.2.0-69-generic #103-Ubuntu SMP Tue Sep 2 05:02:14 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
Printing a zero-valued BigDecimal with negative scale (e.g. 0 * 10^34) using String.format conversion 'f' prints extraneous leading zeroes, contrary to the API description.

STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
Execute the following lines:

BigDecimal x = new BigDecimal(BigInteger.ZERO, -6);
System.out.println(String.format("%.4f", x));


EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
The expected output is

0.0000

ACTUAL -
The actual output is

0000000.0000


REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
import java.math.BigDecimal;
import java.math.BigInteger;

public class Temp {
public static void main(String[] args) {
BigDecimal x = new BigDecimal(BigInteger.ZERO, -6);
System.out.println(String.format("%.4f", x));
}
}

---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
Converting the value to a nonnegative scale works around the problem.