You can build your format template using formline and the accumulator $^A (see perlform and perlvar). But if it's just a typing laziness issue, get a decent editor. E.g. with vi, the sequence 
o@<^[x50p

[download]

(^[ being the escape key) will result in a @ followed by fifty < chars: 

@<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

[download]

--shmem 

_($_=" "x(1<<5)."?\n".q·/)Oo.  G°\        /
                              /\_¯/(q    /
----------------------------  \__(m.====·.(_("always off the crowd"))."·
");sub _{s./.($e="'Itrs `mnsgdq Gdbj O`qkdq")=~y/"-y/#-z/;$e.e && print}

In reply to Re: format characters by shmem
in thread format characters by mikejones

Title:
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