from itertools import zip_longest txt = """Given$a$txt$file$of$many$lines,$where$fields$within$a$line$ are$delineated$by$a$single$'dollar'$character,$write$a$program that$aligns$each$column$of$fields$by$ensuring$that$words$in$each$ column$are$separated$by$at$least$one$space. Further,$allow$for$each$word$in$a$column$to$be$either$left$ justified,$right$justified,$or$center$justified$within$its$column.""" parts = [line.rstrip("$").split("$") for line in txt.splitlines()] widths = [max(len(word) for word in col) for col in zip_longest(*parts, fillvalue='')] for justify in "<_Left ^_Center >_Right".split(): j, jtext = justify.split('_') print(f"{jtext} column-aligned output:\n") for line in parts: print(' '.join(f"{wrd:{j}{wdth}}" for wdth, wrd in zip(widths, line))) print("- " * 52)