Hmm, "placeholder" for me does not seem to emphasize enough the role that this number plays in the space group names. My understanding (but I fail to remember where I read this ...) is that the first number is the order of the rotation (i.e. 6,4,3,2 or 1) of the unique unit cell axis (often the one with the highest symmetry), the second number is the rotation order of a secondary axis, and the third number gives the rotation order of a tertiary axis - which is the third axis in the orthorhombic system, but a diagonal at least in the trigonal and tetragonal (and I think cubic) systems. This makes it clear that each (baseline) letter in the spacegroup name has its specific role, and tells you about the order of the rotation axis. On top of that comes the screw axis information which is much easier to read when using subscripts. But obviously the naming scheme was chosen such that even if screw axes are not indicated with subscripts, the resulting names are unambiguous.
best, Kay
