diff --git a/module/ice-9/format.scm b/module/ice-9/format.scm
index 48d9c0c84..ee7cba910 100644
--- a/module/ice-9/format.scm
+++ b/module/ice-9/format.scm
@@ -1359,10 +1359,10 @@
                       (else
                        (if (> left-zeros 0)
                            (if (<= left-zeros shift) ; shift always > 0 here
-                               (format:fn-shiftleft shift) ; shift out 0s
                                (begin
                                  (format:fn-shiftleft left-zeros)
-                                 (set! format:fn-dot (- shift left-zeros))))
+                                 (set! format:fn-dot (- shift left-zeros)))
+                               (format:fn-shiftleft shift)) ; shift out 0s
                            (set! format:fn-dot (+ format:fn-dot shift))))))))
 
                (let ((negexp          ; expon format m.nnnEee
diff --git a/test-suite/tests/format.test b/test-suite/tests/format.test
index b9aa7a854..f32d99568 100644
--- a/test-suite/tests/format.test
+++ b/test-suite/tests/format.test
@@ -121,7 +121,13 @@
   ;; in guile prior to 1.6.9 and 1.8.1, leading zeros were incorrectly
   ;; stripped, moving the decimal point and giving "25.0" here
   (pass-if "string 02.5"
-    (string=? "2.5" (format #f "~f" "02.5"))))
+    (string=? "2.5" (format #f "~f" "02.5")))
+
+  (pass-if "scale with few leading zeros"
+    (string=? "1.23" (format #f "~,,3f" "0.00123")))
+
+  (pass-if "scale with many leading zeros"
+    (string=? "0.0123" (format #f "~,,1f" "0.00123"))))
 
 ;;;
 ;;; ~h