' ' x $expr;

##</code><code>##

use warnings; use strict;
my $col=10; my $maxcol=40;
my $str = ' ' x $col%$maxcol;

##</code><code>##

     left        * / % x
     left        + - . 

##</code><code>##

1)    left        * / %
2)     left        + -
3)     left        x
4)     left        . 

##</code><code>##

Argument "          " isn't numeric in addition (+) at -e line 2.

##</code><code>##

Argument "          " isn't numeric in modulus (%) at -e line 2.