Shell script to properly align columns

Question

I have a (3-columns) TAB-delimited file, such as:

activity_log    manager Manager
reserve_rm_hreserver_rm_log manager Manager
mo  apprv_mgr1  Approving Manager
wrview  manager Manager

I'd like to get columns correctly aligned; in this case:

activity_log                  manager      Manager
reserve_rm_hreserver_rm_log   manager      Manager
mo                            apprv_mgr1   Approving Manager
wrview                        manager      Manager

No doubt this is doable with awk, by scanning the longest string in every column, and using that for formatting the column printing. I could do that.

But I'm sure there must be a one-liner to do that much more easily. Am I right?

column -t file should do it

anubhava
– anubhava

2016-02-04 11:12:05 +00:00
Commented Feb 4, 2016 at 11:12 — anubhava
– anubhava, Commented Feb 4, 2016 at 11:12

mauro · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-04 11:15:15Z

5

This should work:

$ column -t myfile.txt

you can use different chars to fill (man column is your friend)

answered Feb 4, 2016 at 11:15

mauro

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1 Comment

user3341592 Over a year ago

With -s '<TAB character>', that's what I was after. Thx a lot!

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