theString$ = "Given$a$text$file$of$many$lines,$where$fields$within$a$line$"
theString$ = theString$ + "are$delineated$by$a$single$'dollar'$character,$write$a$program"
theString$ = theString$ + "that$aligns$each$column$of$fields$by$ensuring$that$words$in$each$"
theString$ = theString$ + "column$are$separated$by$at$least$one$space."
theString$ = theString$ + "Further,$allow$for$each$word$in$a$column$to$be$either$left$"
theString$ = theString$ + "justified,$right$justified,$or$center$justified$within$its$column."

x = shoTable(theString$, "left", 6)
x = shoTable(theString$, "right", 6)
x = shoTable(theString$, "center", 6)
end

sub word$(sr$, wn, delim$)
    local i, j, n, sd, sl, sl2
    local s$, res$, d$

    d$ = delim$
    j = wn
    if j = 0  j = j+1
    res$ = "" : s$ = sr$
    if d$ = ""  d$ = " "
    sd = len(d$) : sl = len(s$)
    do
        n = instr(s$,d$)
        j = j - 1
        if j = 0 then
            if n = 0 then res$ = s$ else res$ = mid$(s$, 1, n-1) : fi
            return res$
        fi
        if n = 0  return res$
        if n = sl-sd then res$ = "" : return res$ : fi
        sl2 = sl-n
        s$ = mid$(s$, n+1, sl2)
        sl = sl2
    loop
    return res$
end sub

sub shoTable(theString$, align$, across)
    local i, a$, b$

    print "------------ align:", align$, " -- across:", across, " ------------"
    dim siz(across)
    b$ = "                                          "
    while word$(theString$, i+1, "$") <> ""
        siz(mod(i, across)) = max(siz(mod(i, across)), len(word$(theString$, i+1, "$")))
        i = i+1
    wend
    for i = 0 to across - 1
        siz(i) = siz(i)+1
        if siz(i) and 1   siz(i) = siz(i)+1
    next i

    i = 0
    a$ = word$(theString$, i+1, "$")
    while a$ <> ""
        s = siz(mod(i, across)) - len(a$)
        if align$ = "right"   a$ = left$(b$, s) + a$
        if align$ = "left"    a$ = a$ + left$(b$, s)
        if align$ = "center"  a$ = left$(b$, int(s / 2)) + a$ + left$(b$, int(s / 2) + (s and 1))
        print "|", a$;
        i  = i + 1
        if mod(i, across) = 0  print "|"
        a$ = word$(theString$, i+1, "$")
    wend
    print
end sub