Pretty text reports with perl

tsk1979 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I have a perl program which processes some data from RAW files, and creates hashes. Now at the end, I need to show the user column reports For example

Total     Value (%)    Count   MIN    MAX
==========================================
500       43 (98%)      340    4       18
[download]

Now data can change, for example 43 can become 1456, and in case of fixed formatting, reports appear ugly.

Is there a way of good formatting so that the data is always printed "centered" or something.
Cannot think of a good formatting scheme, Looked up some articles, but noone talks about pretty printing with perl. Help please

Comment on Pretty text reports with perl Download Code

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Re: Pretty text reports with perl by toolic (Bishop) on Jun 08, 2009 at 12:27 UTC
I use Text::Table to "Organize Data in Tables".	[reply]
Re: Pretty text reports with perl by wfsp (Abbot) on Jun 08, 2009 at 12:25 UTC
You could consider pack for this. There is a very good perlmonks tutorial: Pack/Unpack Tutorial (aka How the System Stores Data). There is also a tutorial in the docs perlpacktut. It includes an example of how to read a table similar to yours, the techniques could be used to construct one.	[reply]
Re^2: Pretty text reports with perl by tsk1979 (Scribe) on Jun 16, 2009 at 08:51 UTC
Thanks, I used pack, and its working perfectly. I created a format string and stored in in a variable. Everywhere I use format string. So all reports have the same look and feel!	[reply]
Re: Pretty text reports with perl by JavaFan (Canon) on Jun 08, 2009 at 11:56 UTC
Centered? I always assumed people want their numbers to be right aligned (or on the decimal dot, if any). Instead of the previously suggested formats, you might want to consider (s)printf.	[reply]
Re: Pretty text reports with perl by targetsmart (Curate) on Jun 08, 2009 at 11:37 UTC
from perlform > pad character for right adjustification you can use like @>>>>, it can handle 43 as well as your 1456 Vivek -- In accordance with the prarabdha of each, the One whose function it is to ordain makes each to act. What will not happen will never happen, whatever effort one may put forth. And what will happen will not fail to happen, however much one may seek to prevent it. This is certain. The part of wisdom therefore is to stay quiet.	[reply]
Re^2: Pretty text reports with perl by apl (Monsignor) on Jun 08, 2009 at 11:53 UTC
If you use the format construction, you can center values by specifying vertical bars.	[reply]