If you want to format your data neatly in columns, you can use
sprintf or
printf to do so if you're using a fixed width font. A format of "%20s", for example, calls for a string that's 20 characters long and will be trailing space padded ... except ...
that figure "20" is a minimum width, and if your text is longer, the output line will also be longer!
There are two possible solutions you can apply. The first is to use a format of the form "%20.20s" which says "make it 20 wide and TRUNCATE the string to 20 characters if it's longer" ... which might be fine in some circumstances, but eliminate vital data in others. The second solution is to use
dynamic formatting. Here's how it works
a) Look through all the data that has to go into a particular field, and note the longest string's length
$longhost = 1;
foreach $host (keys %counter) {
if (length($host) > $longhost) {$longhost = length($host); }
}
b) Use the variable that contains that longest string's length within the format string:
printf("%-${longhost}s ",$host);
There's a complete program showing this (with comments too, to explain things like the ${var} notation)
here.
Further new samples this morning ...
An introductory example to hashes
Modifiers and comments in Perl regular expressions
Looking up data in a file from a web page (written 2008-10-31)
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
P602 - Perl - Advanced File and Directory Handling [839] Reporting on the 10 largest files or 10 top scores - (2006-08-20)
[975] Answering ALL the delegate's Perl questions - (2006-12-09)
[1225] Perl - functions for directory handling - (2007-06-09)
[1709] There is more that one way - Perl - (2008-07-14)
[1832] Processing all files in a directory - Perl - (2008-10-11)
[2876] Different perl examples - some corners I rarely explore - (2010-07-18)
[3412] Handling binary data in Perl is easy! - (2011-08-30)
[3429] Searching through all the files in or below a directory - Ruby, Tcl, Perl - (2011-09-09)
P207 - Perl - File Handling [12] How many people in a room? - (2004-08-12)
[114] Relative or absolute milkman - (2004-11-10)
[255] STDIN, STDOUT, STDERR and DATA - Perl file handles - (2005-03-23)
[616] printf - a flawed but useful function - (2006-02-22)
[618] Perl - its up to YOU to check your file opened - (2006-02-23)
[702] Iterators - expressions tha change each time you call them - (2006-04-27)
[867] Being sure to be positive in Perl - (2006-09-15)
[1312] Some one line Perl tips and techniques - (2007-08-21)
[1416] Good, steady, simple example - Perl file handling - (2007-10-30)
[1442] Reading a file multiple times - file pointers - (2007-11-23)
[1467] stdout v stderr (Tcl, Perl, Shell) - (2007-12-10)
[1841] Formatting with a leading + / Lua and Perl - (2008-10-15)
[1860] Seven new intermediate Perl examples - (2008-10-30)
[2233] Transforming data in Perl using lists of lists and hashes of hashes - (2009-06-12)
[2405] But I am reading from a file - no need to prompt (Perl) - (2009-09-14)
[2818] File open and read in Perl - modernisation - (2010-06-19)
[2821] Chancellor George Osborne inspires Perl Program - (2010-06-22)
[2833] Fresh Perl Teaching Examples - part 2 of 3 - (2010-06-27)
[3326] Finding your big files in Perl - design considerations beyond the course environment - (2011-06-14)
[3548] Dark mornings, dog update, and Python and Lua courses before Christmas - (2011-12-10)
[3830] Traversing a directory in Perl - (2012-08-08)
[3839] Spraying data from one incoming to series of outgoing files in Perl - (2012-08-15)
Some other Articles
Debugging and Data::Dumper in PerlObject Oriented Perl - First StepsAbout dieing and exiting in PerlRemember your unitsReactive (dynamic) formatting in PerlWiltshire at dawn - the tourist trailCamera with night vision, youth with no visionNovember and December Public Course ScheduleA few of my favourite things