format() of a character matrix converts to vector (PR#960)

Using R 1.2.3 under both windows 95 and linux, format() works fine on a 
numerical matrix, but converts a character matrix to a vector, apparently 
omitting to convert it back to a matrix:

a_matrix(c("axx","b","c","d","e","f","g","h"),nrow=2)

a

[,1]  [,2] [,3] [,4]
[1,] "axx" "c"  "e"  "g" 
[2,] "b"   "d"  "f"  "h"

format(a)

[1] "axx" "b  " "c  " "d  " "e  " "f  " "g  " "h  "

format(a,justify="right")

[1] "axx" "  b" "  c" "  d" "  e" "  f" "  g" "  h"

format(a,justify="left")

[1] "axx" "b  " "c  " "d  " "e  " "f  " "g  " "h  "

format(a,justify="none")

[,1]  [,2] [,3] [,4]
[1,] "axx" "c"  "e"  "g" 
[2,] "b"   "d"  "f"  "h" 


Many thanks

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Peters
CSIRO National Measurement Laboratory
PO Box 218                                Phone:    +61 2 9413 7503
Lindfield NSW 2070                        Fax:      +61 2 9413 7202
Australia                                 Internet: John.Peters@tip.CSIRO.AU
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