use strict;
use warnings;

use List::Util qw( max );
use POSIX      qw( ceil );

my @a = qw(un deux trois quatre jedan dva tritcheteri one two three);
my $cols = 4;

my $width = (max map length, @a) + 1;
my $rows = ceil(@a / $cols);

for my $r (0..$rows-1) {
   for my $c (0..$cols-1) {
      next if (my $i = $r * $cols + $c) > $#a;
      printf('%-*s', $width, $a[$i]);
   }
   print("\n");
}

##</code><code>##

use strict;
use warnings;

use List::Util qw( max );
use POSIX      qw( ceil );

my @a = qw(un deux trois quatre jedan dva tritcheteri one two three);
my $cols = 3;

my $width = (max map length, @a) + 1;
my $rows = ceil(@a / $cols);

for my $r (0..$rows-1) {
   for my $c (0..$cols-1) {
      next if (my $i = $r + $c * $rows) > $#a;
      printf('%-*s', $width, $a[$i]);
   }
   print("\n");
}