Fred Sahakian wrote: > > I have data that prints to a flat file database. > The data can sometimes be 1, 2, 3, or 4 characters in length. > Id like to have it print a fixed length (6 characters) into the database, like this: > > xyz|fred |xyz > > instead of > > xyz|fred|xyz > > Is there a simple solution? > I was going to count the string length and add a space after each character to make > it equal to 6, but that might be the long way.
You could use either sprintf or pack: $ perl -le' @x = qw/one alongstring/; for ( @x ) { print "|" . sprintf( "%-6.6s", $_ ) . "|"; }' |one | |alongs| $ perl -le' @x = qw/one alongstring/; for ( @x ) { print "|" . pack( "A6", $_ ) . "|"; }' |one | |alongs| John -- use Perl; program fulfillment -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]