How to align multiple output of a command into columns

Question

I'm developing a program that outputs all the needed data from multiple files into columns. The problem is, my program can't align multiple output into a neat column.

This is my program functions:

#!/bin/sh

function findFile
{
    while read -r LINE
    do
            find . -name "${LINE}" | grep "${LINE}" || echo "${LINE} not found"
    done < /path/to/fnames.txt > /path/to/Files.txt
}

findFile

function grepFile
{
    printf "ISA\t\tGS\tTrans\tSender ID\tReceiver ID\tINV PO Number\tASN PO Number\n"
    fmt="%-16s%-8s%-8s%-8s%-24s%-9s%-12s\n"
    while read -r LINE
    do
            gs=$(zgrep -oP 'GS.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.\K[\w\s\d]*' < $LINE | sort -u)
            isa=$(zgrep -oP 'ISA.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.\K[\w\s\d]*' < $LINE | sort)
            trans=$(zgrep -oP 'GE.\K[\w\s\d-]*' < $LINE | sort -u)
            sender=$(zgrep -oP 'ISA.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.\K[\w\s\d-]*' < $LINE | sort -u)
            receiver=$(zgrep -oP 'ISA.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.[^*]*.\K[\w\s\d-]*' < $LINE | sort -u)
            bigponumber=$(zgrep -oP 'BIG.[\w\s\d-]*.[\w\s\d]*.[\w\s\d]*.\K[\w\s\d-]*' < $LINE | sort -u)
            asnponumber=$(zgrep -oP 'PRF.\K[\w\s\d-]*' < $LINE | sort -u)
            printf "$fmt" "${isa}" "${gs}" "${trans}" "${sender}" "${receiver}" "${bigponumber}" "${asnponumber}"
    done < /path/to/Files.txt
    rm /path/to/Files.txt
}

grepFile

output: Notice those numbers that are populating the left side of the screen? That's the PO Numbers.

ISA             GS      Trans   Sender ID       Receiver ID     INV PO Number   ASN PO Number
100000107       1107    1       2035735845         AMAZON                       2IJW4EUG
100000018       1018    1       00116520M      5032337598                       0082313829
100000096       1096    7       001165208      6111470100                       0026-7684347-0551
0026-7684347-0557
0026-7684347-0580
0026-7684347-0587
0026-7684347-0589
0026-7684347-3803
0026-7684347-3804
100000580       1580    6       2035735845     TGTDVS                           1310548379
1310570020
1310590953
1310596065
1310598477
1310609258

I want it to be like this: The same goes to INV PO Numbers

ISA             GS      Trans   Sender ID       Receiver ID     INV PO Number   ASN PO Number
100000107       1107    1       2035735845         AMAZON                       2IJW4EUG
100000018       1018    1       00116520M      5032337598                       0082313829
100000096       1096    7       001165208      6111470100                       0026-7684347-0551
                                                                                0026-7684347-0557
                                                                                0026-7684347-0580
                                                                                0026-7684347-0587
                                                                                0026-7684347-0589
                                                                                0026-7684347-3803
                                                                                0026-7684347-3804
100000580       1580    6       2035735845     TGTDVS                           1310548379
                                                                                1310570020
                                                                                1310590953
                                                                                1310596065
                                                                                1310598477
                                                                                1310609258

Answer 1

You can do this as shown:

grepFile | column -t -s $'\t' -o $'\t'

Provided the function grepFile has been modified as per my suggestions as given .

Create one more user-defined function, say, "alignCols" and pass the output from your "grepFile" function to it.

Also, modify slightly the "grepFile" function in the printf statement:

function grepFile
{

    #*************** ADD THIS ********
    t=$'\t'; # TAB char
    #*********************************

    printf "ISA\t\tGS\tTrans\tSender ID\tReceiver ID\tINV PO Number\tASN PO Number\n"

    #*************** MODIFY THIS ********
    fmt="%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\n"
    #*********************************

    while read -r LINE
    do
     # ... keep the other statements just like before #

     # ************** MODIFY printf ****************
     printf "$fmt" \
        "${isa:-$t}"         \
        "${gs:-$t}"          \
        "${trans:-$t}"       \
        "${sender:-$t}"      \
        "${receiver:-$t}"    \
        "${bigponumber:-$t}" \
        "${asnponumber:-$t}";
     # *********************************************

    done < /path/to/Files.txt
    rm /path/to/Files.txt
}

function alignCols
{
sed -e '
1i\
.TS\
tab('$'\t'');\
l l l l l l l.
$a\
.TE
' - | tbl - | nroff -Tascii -ms | grep .
}

# And then...

grepFile | alignCols

---

Results

ISA         GS     Trans   Sender ID    Receiver ID   INV PO Number   ASN PO Number
100000107   1107   1       2035735845   AMAZON                        2IJW4EUG
100000018   1018   1       00116520M    5032337598                    0082313829
100000096   1096   7       001165208    6111470100                    0026-7684347-0551
                                                                      0026-7684347-0557
                                                                      0026-7684347-0580
                                                                      0026-7684347-0587
                                                                      0026-7684347-0589
                                                                      0026-7684347-3803
                                                                      0026-7684347-3804
100000580   1580   6       2035735845   TGTDVS                        1310548379
                                                                      1310570020
                                                                      1310590953
                                                                      1310596065
                                                                      1310598477

Answer 2

The key here is to use the column program cf. man 1 column

It will allow you align your data as needed through a few simple option like defining a separator

You also can take a look at this question : Formatting lists with the column command in *nix