I like the answer from davido. Some additional comments for you...

The printf() "format spec" reserves a minimum field width. In some cases that minimum width will be exceeded to print what is necessary.

When there are multiple variables, I always put an explicit space in the format spec to guarantee that the printout will have a space between columns. If you have a 5 digit integer, do not use %6d and count on that leading column to be blank. Use " %5d". If 8 digits show up for the integer, they will get printed and perhaps more importantly a space will separate that column from the previous one. Here are some examples:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

my $x = "a_long_string";

print "*using a single field:\n";
printf "%3s\n","a";
printf "%3s\n","abc";
printf "%3s\n",$x;

print "\n*using format with 2 fields:\n";
printf "%3s%4s\n", "abc", "a";
printf "%3s%4s\n", "abc", "abcd";
printf "%3s%4s\n", $x, "abcd";
printf "%3d%3d\n", 123, 456;

#
# better, use a explict space between format fields
#

print "\n*using explict space between 2 fields\n";
printf "%3s %4s\n", $x, "abcd";
printf "%3d %3d\n", 123789, 456;

__END__
*using a single field:
  a
abc
a_long_string

*using format with 2 fields:
abc   a
abcabcd
a_long_stringabcd
123456

*using explict space between 2 fields
a_long_string abcd
123789 456

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In reply to Re: How to right align outputs of stored data in a variable? by Marshall
in thread How to right align outputs of stored data in a variable? by perlnovice1900

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