Bashscripts.org

Working on a ~155 line per page index. Some of the entries are like this: (/t for tab)

short/t<5 number sequence>

and

somewhat considerably longer entry on this line/t<5 number sequence>

So far I'm using to get command line output that doesn't clog the screen but I'd like to have the number sequences line up. printf seems to be the command to use but I can't figure out how to integrate it into the command sequence. Any help would be appreciated.

Thx,

gimp25

I know that I'll have to take the alpha character length as a consideration for the field size. And I forgot to tell you that the 5-digit entries could also be multiple comma separated and/or inclusive hyphenated entries.

Again, many thx.

It took a little more reading and experimentation, but here it is......



The printf value of 41 was selected based on the size of the longest string in the current page that I was working on +5 spaces for the line numbering provided by grep, and the spacing between the first and second fields. Also, the printf value of 5 allowed the 5-digit entries in the second field to be left aligned. Tried it with the "-", but it mangled the first field entries. I could have separated the fields by "%-41s<spaces here>5s", but it's just a matter of personal preference on this point.