A printf format is a perl string. In this case, it is constructed using perl's string operators. The dot ('.') is the concatenation operator. The 'x' is the repetition operator (Refer to Multiplicative Operators section of perlop). The specification '10.3f' is repeated @columns-3 times where @columns is the total number of columns. (The three comes from the fact that the first two columns are not printed and the third has it own format specification)
Bill

In reply to Re^3: column counter and printf question by BillKSmith
in thread column counter and printf question by fasoli

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