my $text1 = "cherry\tred fruit";
my $text2 = "carrot\torange vegetable";
$lb->insert('end', $text1, $text2);

##</code><code>##

cherry\x{9}red fruit
carrot\x{9}orange vegetable

##</code><code>##

my $string1 = "cherry";
my $string2 = "a red fruit";
my $spaces  = 30 - length($string1);
my $text    = sprintf("%-${spaces}s\%s\%s",$string1,$string2);