def left_padded_string(text, padding=0):
    """
    Method returns a modified version of `text` with `padding` number of space
    characters prepended.
    :param text: a string to prepend spaces to
    :param padding: the number of space characters to prepend to `text`
    :return: a modified version of `text` with `padding` number of space
             characters prepended.
    """
    try:
        padding = int(padding)
    except ValueError:
        padding = 0

    padding = 0 if padding < 0 else padding

    return ' ' * padding + text