use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dump qw(dump dd);

$|=1;


my $input2 = << "EOF";
foo	bar		baz	booz		qaaz			abc
foo		bar	baz		booz	qaaz	abc	123
foo		bar		thisis15chars15		booz	qaaz		abc
EOF

use constant {TAB_SPACES =>8};   # normal default is 8


#######
# Table 2 is more complex - reduce tabs when possible, 
#                           add tabs when needed.
#
# As each line is read, the maximum required width of each column
# is calculated.
#
# Table is stored in @table2 without separators.
#
# Reformatted table is output assuming TAB_SPACES
#

open my $input2_fh, "<", \$input2 or die "$!";
print "********\nTable2 input in raw form:\n********\n";
my @table2;
my @max_chars;
while (<$input2_fh>)
{
    print;
    chomp;

    my $i=0;
    my @tokens;
    foreach my $field (@tokens = split /\t+/,$_)
    {
        $max_chars[$i] //= 0;
        $max_chars[$i] = length $field if (length $field > $max_chars[$i]);
        $i++;
    }
    push (@table2,[@tokens]);
}
print "\nData dump of Table2:\n";
dd \@table2;

print "\n******\nReformatted Table:\n*****\n";

foreach my $row_ref (@table2)
{
    my $i = 0;
    my @line = @$row_ref;

    while (defined (my $field = shift @line))
    {      
       my $alignment_spaces = $max_chars[$i]-length($field);
       my $n_tabs = int($alignment_spaces/TAB_SPACES)+1;
       
       print "".$field, (@line) ? "\t" x $n_tabs : "\n";
       $i++;   
    }
}
__END__
********
Table2 input in raw form:
********
foo	bar		baz	booz		qaaz			abc
foo		bar	baz		booz	qaaz	abc	123
foo		bar		thisis15chars15		booz	qaaz		abc

Data dump of Table2:
[
  ["foo", "bar", "baz", "booz", "qaaz", "abc"],
  ["foo", "bar", "baz", "booz", "qaaz", "abc", 123],
  ["foo", "bar", "thisis15chars15", "booz", "qaaz", "abc"],
]

******
Reformatted Table:
*****
foo	bar	baz		booz	qaaz	abc
foo	bar	baz		booz	qaaz	abc	123
foo	bar	thisis15chars15	booz	qaaz	abc