my @a = qw[one two]; 
my @b = qw[three four five]; 
my @c = qw[six seven];

printf +('%-10s 'x3) .$/
  , $a[$_]||'', $b[$_]||'', $c[$_]||'' 
    for 0 .. ( sort{ $b<=>$a } ~~@a, ~~@b,~~@c)[0];

one        three      six
two        four       seven
           five


##</code><code>##

#! perl -slw
use strict;

sub pa_columns{
	my $fmt = shift;
	printf( ($fmt x @_).$/ , do { my $n=$_; map{ $_->[$n] || '' } @_; } )
		for 0 .. ( sort{ $b<=>$a } map{ $#$_ } @_ )[0];
}


my @a = qw[one two];
my @b = qw[three four five];
my @c = qw[six seven];

pa_columns '%-10s ', \(@a, @b, @c);

my @d = 1 .. 10;
my @e = 'A' .. 'G';
print $/;
pa_columns '%5.5s ', \(@d, @e, @a, @b, @c);

__DATA__
C:\test>pa_cols
one        three      six
two        four       seven
           five


    1     A   one three   six
    2     B   two  four seven
    3     C        five
    4     D
    5     E
    6     F
    7     G
    8
    9
   10