print array contents in variable width columns

Question

I wish to modify my code in such a way that the column widens to accommodate the data.

Below is an example of a broken row

+========+=========+===============+=============+=============+
| Record | Cluster | Current Build | Current Use | Environment |
+--------+---------+---------------+-------------+-------------+
| 3      | 1       | v44           | v44 Live (currently - new company cluster)| PROD        |
+--------+---------+---------------+-------------+-------------+

Here is the (kludgy) code I'm using

sub printData {
   if (@_) {
      # print the data grid top border
      printf ("%10s%10s%15s%14s%14s",'+'.('=' x 8).'+',('=' x 9).'+',('=' x 15).'+',('=' x 13).'+',('=' x 13).'+');
      print "\n";
      # print the data grid column titles
      printf ("%-9s%-10s%-16s%-14s%-15s",'| Record ','| Cluster ','| Current Build ','| Current Use ','| Environment |');
      print "\n";

      # print out each row of data
      foreach my $rows (@_) {

         # print the data grid demarcation border
         printf ("%10s%10s%15s%14s%14s",'+'.('-' x 8).'+',('-' x 9).'+',('-' x 15).'+',('-' x 13).'+',('-' x 13).'+');
         print "\n";

         # print each data cell
         printf ("%-9s",'| '.$rows->{'Record ID#'});
         printf ("%-10s",'| '.$rows->{'Cluster'});
         printf ("%-16s",'| '.$rows->{'Current Build'});
         printf ("%-14s",'| '.$rows->{'Current Use'});

            # calculate the length of the last column
            my $length = length($rows->{'Environment'});

            # calculate how many spaces to add to the last column
            # the title of this column uses 15 characters (including '|' and spaces)
            # we already used three of those spaces for 2 '|' characters  and 1 leading space
            # so 15 - 3 = 12 
            # then subtract the length of the return string from 12
            my $spaces = 12 - $length;

         # we print the last data cell plus the padding spaces calculated above
         printf ("%-15s",'| '.$rows->{'Environment'}.(' ' x $spaces).'|');
         print "\n";
      }

      # we print the bottom data grid border
      printf ("%10s%10s%15s%14s%14s",'+'.('=' x 8).'+',('=' x 9).'+',('=' x 15).'+',('=' x 13).'+',('=' x 13).'+');
      print "\n";
    }
   else {  
      if ($debug) {
         print "trouble with printData subroutine\n";
      }
      return 0;
    }
}

Answer 1

Text::Table will adjust column widths to fit the data.

Answer 2

You have to pre-scan the data do get the max width of each field, then build your formatting strings.