use List::Util qw( max ); my $max_spam_len = max map length, 'Spam:', @spam; my $format = "%-${max_spam_len}s %s\n"; printf($format, 'Spam:', 'Ham:'); my $max_idx = max $#spam, $#ham; for my $i (0..$max_idx) { printf($format, $i <= $#spam ? $spam[$i] : '', $i <= $#ham ? $ham[$i] : '', ); } #### use List::Util qw( max ); sub print_columns { my ($data) = @_; my @headers; my @columns; for (my $i = 0; $i < @$data; ) { push(@headers, $data->[$i++]); push(@columns, $data->[$i++]); } my @col_widths = map { max map length, $headers[$_], @{$columns[$_]} } 0..$#headers; my $format = join(' ', map "%-${_}s", @col_widths) . "\n"; my $sep = join(' ', map { '-' x $_ } @col_widths) . "\n"; printf($format, @headers); print($sep); my $max_idx = max map { $#$_ } @columns; for my $i (0..$max_idx) { printf($format, map { $i < @$_ ? $_->[$i] : '' } @columns); } } print_columns([ Spam => \@spam, Ham => \@ham, ]);