Fixed #36519 -- Made center template filter consistent for even/odd padding.

Refactored `center` template filter to match f-string behaviour,
producing consistent padding for both odd and even fillings.

Thanks Lily Acorn for the report and Natalia Bidart for the review.

Co-authored-by: Lily Acorn <code@lilyf.org>

3 files changed, 11 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index 996928f444..2b1c185e36 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -764,6 +764,7 @@ answer newbie questions, and generally made Django that much better:
     Morgan Aubert <morgan.aubert@zoho.com>
     Moritz Sichert <moritz.sichert@googlemail.com>
     Morten Bagai <m@bagai.com>
+    Mridul Dhall <mriduldhall1@gmail.com>
     msaelices <msaelices@gmail.com>
     msundstr
     Mushtaq Ali <mushtaak@gmail.com>
diff --git a/django/template/defaultfilters.py b/django/template/defaultfilters.py
index b50b790fc1..3ed9856c08 100644
--- a/django/template/defaultfilters.py
+++ b/django/template/defaultfilters.py
@@ -432,7 +432,10 @@ def rjust(value, arg):
 @stringfilter
 def center(value, arg):
     """Center the value in a field of a given width."""
-    return value.center(int(arg))
+    width = int(arg)
+    if width <= 0:
+        return value
+    return f"{value:^{width}}"
 
 
 @register.filter
diff --git a/tests/template_tests/filter_tests/test_center.py b/tests/template_tests/filter_tests/test_center.py
index 8d0bf38006..dbbde4f300 100644
--- a/tests/template_tests/filter_tests/test_center.py
+++ b/tests/template_tests/filter_tests/test_center.py
@@ -35,6 +35,12 @@ class FunctionTests(SimpleTestCase):
     def test_non_string_input(self):
         self.assertEqual(center(123, 5), " 123 ")
 
+    def test_odd_input(self):
+        self.assertEqual(center("odd", 6), " odd  ")
+
+    def test_even_input(self):
+        self.assertEqual(center("even", 7), " even  ")
+
     def test_widths(self):
         value = "something"
         for i in range(-1, len(value) + 1):