fixed | width | format
------+-------+-------
foo   | bar   | baz

##</code><code>##

my $tmpfile = 'c:/tmp/tmp.txt';

$str = 'widget';
$cost = 10;

format Something =
Item: @<<<<<<<<@>>>>>
$str,  '$' . sprintf("%.2f",$cost)
.

# format is a pain in the ass and won't write to an IO::Handle so we
# need to go through these contortions
open TMP, "+>$tmpfile" or die $!;
select(TMP);      # need to select our file as the output handle for write
$~ = 'Something'; # now select our format
write TMP;        # now write it
seek TMP, 0, 0;   # up to the top of the file to read it
select(STDOUT);   # reinstate STDOUT as our ouput handle
@data = <TMP>;    # read in our formatted data
close TMP;        # clean up
unlink $tmpfile;

print @data;      # wohoo