On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:30:23 -0500 Ted Zlatanov <tzz at lifelogs.com> wrote: TZ> # just an example... TZ> printf ("%05d %20s %20s %20s %-12s\n", $i, $name, $f_name, $l_name, $ph); I meant this for lining up columns: printf ("%05d %20.20s %20.20s %20.20s %-12.12s\n", $i, $name, $f_name, $l_name, $ph); Sorry Ted