Syntax for abbreviated code

Question

set text to "Now" & space & space & space & space --(etc.) works
--Can this somehow be written in a more efficient manner, something like:
set text to "Now" & (4 * space) --which doesn't work
--????

Answer 1

I didn't check out red_menace's suggestion with respect to this issue, but Niel's solution --while it probably works in most cases -- does seem to have a pitfall:
Suppose I'm specifying text for a TextEdit document. If I write:
set the_text to "Nowxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
tell application "TextEdit"
make new document at front
repeat 20 times
set the_text to the_text & space
end repeat
set text of front document to the_text
end tell
Possible results:
1) If the code is writing actual characters when it reaches the end of a line, then the characters wrap properly to the next line (assuming preferences are set up for wrapping).
2) But, if the code is writing spaces when it reaches the end of a line, then it doesn't wrap. I think this will present a problem if an attempt is made to add more text. Try this:
set the_text to "Nowxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
set thetext2 to "and now more text"
tell application "TextEdit"
make new document at front
repeat 20 times
set the_text to the_text & space
end repeat
set text of front document to the_text and thetext2
end tell
(On my machine there certainly aren't 20 spaces between the two text blocks -- just the number of spaces left at the end of the preceding line.)
(What happens all depends on the font size and the width of the open document window and, of course, the number of actual characters preceding the spaces. It's also possible, I guess, that what happens depends on the specific application.)
Message was edited by: Noaks