'Looking for an easy way to align text

I have a common problem that I'm looking for a solution to. I have lines of similar text I'd like to somehow automatically insert text to align them vertically such that:

x="foo" data="123" y=x
x="b  4" data="12 " y=x
x="baaar4" data="123aaa5" y=x
x="baaaa,4" data="123dddd5" y=x

becomes this

x="foo"     data="123"      y=x
x="b  4"    data="123 "     y=x
x="baaar4"  data="123aaa5"  y=x
x="baaaa,4" data="123dddd5" y=x

This is a text issue. The input comes from notepad. The output is going to notepad. This is not a formatting issue.

notepad++

Solution 1:^[1]

If you want to align by specific characters use Notepad++ extension TextFX.

Look at: TextFX > TextFX Edit > Line up multiple lines by (,)

There are also: Line up multiple lines by (=), and Line up multiple lines by (Clipboard Character)

Here is a link for helpful tips for programming.

http://techbrij.com/518/10-notepad-tips-tricks-fast-development

Solution 2:^[2]

Notepad++ TextFX is not longer supported and maintained. The Code alignment plugin only aligns the first occurence of the column aligning character.

I solved the problem using a free online service: https://onlinetexttools.com/convert-text-to-nice-columns

Solution 3:^[3]

ElasticTabstops is actually exactly doing the job I was looking for when you are working with tabs. Aligning without adding characters (spaces or tabs).

Solution 4:^[4]

I have created a Python Script that can be used with Python Script Plugin in Notepad++: nppPyAlignColumn

Solution 5:^[5]

You did not list a programming language so here is some C# that performs the requested operation:

int[] maxLengths = new int[100];
string[][] splitLines = new string[input.Length][];
for (int i = 0; i < input.Length; i++)
{
    splitLines[i] = input[i].Split(' ');
    for (int j = 0; j < splitLines[i].Length; j++)
    {
        maxLengths[j] = Math.Max(maxLengths[j], splitLines[i][j].Length);
    }
}
for (int i = 0; i < splitLines.Length; i++)
{
    for (int j = 0; j < splitLines[i].Length; j++)
    {
        Console.Write(string.Format("0,-" + (maxLengths[j] + 1) + ":G}", splitLines[i][j]));
    }
    Console.WriteLine();
}

Note that 100 has to be greater than or equal to the number of segments per line. You can cause that number to not be fixed with a little work if you like.

Basically this algorithm splits each line based on spaces, then for each part calculates the maximum into a common array. Finally it loops through all these segmented parts and prints them out left-justified using spaces to the largest size (plus 1 to get the space between items).

Solution 6:^[6]

elastic tabstop plugin aligns messed up text in row and column

install in notepad++

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution	Source
Solution 1	Community
Solution 2	Emiliano A. Carlevaro
Solution 3	Dorian Grv
Solution 4	Noel Evans
Solution 5	phuclv
Solution 6	trinib

'Looking for an easy way to align text

Solution 1:[1]

Solution 2:[2]

Solution 3:[3]

Solution 4:[4]

Solution 5:[5]

Solution 6:[6]