Talk:Align columns: Difference between revisions

=== poll: short or general? ===

Given that:

# The <code>9!:27</code> version confused even a veteran J user, and

# using these foreigns has side effects which would need to be reverted after the desired effect is acheived, further cluttering the solution, and

# using foreigns that control global formatting to acheive local formatting might be considered cute at best, and

# the task calls for ''allow[ing] each word in a column to be [aligned]'', which could imply the need to align words or columns independently, then

should we scrap our short (if cute) solution, and replace it with a longer, but more general solution? As a (possibly desirable) side-effect, a solution which eschewed the foreigns would be more comparable to others written in languages which lack a built-in formatting & alignment facility.

If so, here's a candidate solution:

colAlign =: 'L'&$: : (format@:align parse)

format =: [: > (,. ' '&,.)&.>/

align =: cols |."1&.>~ ('';1) <;.1 rotation

cols =: <@:>"1@:|:@:]

rotation =: (<.@*"1 2: %~ 'LCR'&i.)~ offset

offset =: (-"1 >./)@:(#&>)

parse =: [: (-@:(-:{:) }. <;._2@:,~)&>/ '$'; LF ; ]

Example of use:

colAlign text NB. Default is left justification.

'C' colAlign text NB. Can specify a different justification for all columns,

'RCLRCLRCLRCL' colAlign text NB. or for each column independently,

(6 12 (] {~ (?.@$ #)) 'LCR') colAlign text NB. or for each word independently.

Of course, we could retain both, and lead with the short one. But that might be overkill.

--[[User:DanBron|DanBron]] 02:39, 3 December 2008 (UTC)