#!/usr/bin/env perl
use strict;
use warnings;

my @fields;

# For the longer 1st Column name, I added some more spaces so it won't concat the name. NOt sure how the left-justify can be done with this format STDOUT statement? 
format STDOUT =
@<<<<<<<<<<<<  -@#####.###### @####.###### @<<<<<<
@fields
.

while (my $line = <DATA>) {
    chomp $line;
    @fields = split /\s+/, $line, 4;
    unshift @fields, ' ' if 4 > @fields;
    write;
}

# All four columns should be left-justified and should line up whether it is a positive or negative number.  


__DATA__
MM_STD_gate -61.771653             -45.472441      mils   
  -1569.000000           -1155.000000       microns
RFN_a                    -91.102362              68.307087      mils   
                    -2314.000000            1735.000000       microns
RFN_b                    -62.165354              68.307087      mils   
-1579.000000            1735.000000      microns
RFN_c                    -51.417322              68.307087      mils   
                              -1306.000000            1735.000000       microns
MM_STD2_gate    	  259.488188	 -22.047244	mils   
                	  6591.000000		-560.000000	microns
RBASE_right_2          	  366.181102	 -33.464566	mils   
                	  9301.000000		-850.000000	microns