Aligning text with tabwriter

In certain cases, the output (usually data output) is done via tabbed text, which is formatted in well-arranged cells. This format could be achieved with the text/tabwriter package. The package provides the Writer filter, which transforms the text with the tab characters into properly formatted output text.

Create the main.go file with the following content:#

        package main

        import (
          "fmt"
          "os"
          "text/tabwriter"
        )

        func main() {

          w := tabwriter.NewWriter(os.Stdout, 15, 0, 1, ' ',
                                   tabwriter.AlignRight)
          fmt.Fprintln(w, "username\tfirstname\tlastname\t")
          fmt.Fprintln(w, "sohlich\tRadomir\tSohlich\t")
          fmt.Fprintln(w, "novak\tJohn\tSmith\t")
          w.Flush()

        }

output:

sangam:golang-daily sangam$ go run main.go
       username      firstname       lastname
        sohlich        Radomir        Sohlich
          novak           John          Smith
sangam:golang-daily sangam$

How it works...#

The NewWriter function call creates the Writer filter with configured parameters. All data written by this Writer is formatted according to the parameters. os.Stdout is used here for demonstration purposes.
The text/tabwriter package also provides a few more configuration options, such as the flag parameter. The most useful is tabwriter.AlignRight, which configures the writer to align the content to the right in each column.

Create the main.go file with the following content:#

How it works...#

Your Progress