@array1 = qw(one two);
@array2 = qw(three four five);
@array3 = qw(Just another Perl Hacker !);

# make a 2D array
my @aoa = ( \@array1, \@array2, \@array3 );

# calculate max rows ( ie find array with largest number of members )
my $max_rows = 0;
for my $array_ref (@aoa) {
    $max_rows = @$array_ref if @$array_ref > $max_rows;
}

# the number of columns is the number of array refs in @aoa;
my $col_num = @aoa;

# we need to decide on the column width. I will use an arbitrary width and 
# trim the items in each column to fit if required but you could check the 
# length of every item first and set the width to length(longest_item) + 1
my $width = 8;
my $template = '%' . $width . 's';

for my $row ( 0 .. $max_rows -1 ) {
    for my $col ( 0 .. $col_num -1 ) {
        my $item = defined $aoa[$col][$row] ? $aoa[$col][$row] : '';
        # for the colums to line up we need to pack them to the same width
        # we will use printf to do this but you could use length and the x op
        # we set the $template to right justified, 8 chars wide columns
        # we need to trim the $item to $width -1 chars max if we want discrete 
        # columns without items touching with no whitespace
        $item = substr $item, 0, $width -1;
        printf $template, $item;
    }
    print "\n";
}

__DATA__
     one   three    Just
     two    four another
            five    Perl
                  Hacker
                       !
##</code><code>##

 one thr Jus
 two fou ano
     fiv Per
         Hac
           !

##</code><code>##

@array1 = qw(one two);
@array2 = qw(three four five);
@array3 = qw(Just another Perl Hacker !);

# make a 2D array
my @aoa = ( \@array1, \@array2, \@array3 );

# calculate max rows ( ie find array with largest number of members )
my $max_rows = 0;
for my $array_ref (@aoa) {
    $max_rows = @$array_ref if @$array_ref > $max_rows;
}

# the number of columns is the number of array refs in @aoa;
my $col_num = @aoa;

my $width = get_col_width_templates(\@aoa, 1);

for my $row ( 0 .. $max_rows -1 ) {
    for my $col ( 0 .. $col_num -1 ) {
        my $item = defined $aoa[$col][$row] ? $aoa[$col][$row] : '';
        # for the colums to line up we need to pack them to the same width
        # we will use printf to do this but you could use length and the x op
        # we set the $template to right justified, 8 chars wide columns
        # we need to trim the $item to $width -1 chars max if we want discrete 
        # columns without items touching with no whitespace
        $item = substr $item, 0, $width -1;
        printf $width->[$col], $item;
    }
    print "\n";
}

# get_col_width_templates( 2D_ARRAY_REF, MIN_WHITESPACE )
# takes 2D array ref and integer min whitespace to separate columns
# returns an array which contains a printf template such that the
# col width is just wide enough for the widest item in that column
# aka Excel fit column to data

sub get_col_width_templates {
    my ($array_ref, $min_whitespace ) = @_;
    $min_whitespace ||= 1;
    my @width;
    for my $row ( 0 .. $max_rows -1 ) {
        for my $col ( 0 .. $col_num -1 ) {
            my $item = defined $aoa[$col][$row] ? $aoa[$col][$row] : '';
            $width[$col] = length($item) if length($item) > $width[$col];
        }
    }
    @width = map{ '%' . ( $_ + $min_whitespace) . 's' } @width;
  return \@width;
}

__DATA__
 one three    Just
 two  four another
      five    Perl
            Hacker
                 !