my $tab = 8;

while ( <DATA> ) {
  chomp;
  my $fixed = join '', map { $_ . ' 'x($tab-length) } split /\t/;
  print "$fixed\n";
}

__DATA__
hello	57	*45	78
there	*57	93	*83
dude	78	23	*45

##</code><code>##

my $fixed = join '', map { $_ . ' 'x(((int(length()/$tab)+1)*$tab)-length) } split /\t/;