Format input files into columns, split by whitespace

columns.py

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import sys, argparse

def columnize(fname, ncols):
    f = open(fname, 'r')
    lines = list(map(lambda l: l.split(), f.readlines()))
    col = 0
    cols = zip(*lines)
    cols = list(map(lambda c: max((len(w) for w in c)), cols))[:ncols]

    print(ncols)

    f.close()
    f = open(fname, 'w')

    print(list(cols))

    for l in lines:
        for i, w in enumerate(l):
            f.write(w)
            ss = 1
            if i < len(cols):
                ss += cols[i] - len(w)
            f.write(' ' * ss)
        f.write('\n')

    f.close()

def main():
    p = argparse.ArgumentParser(description = 'Format input files into columns, split by whitespace')
    p.add_argument('files', nargs='*')
    p.add_argument('-c', '--ncols', help = 'The number of columns to use. Any extra whitespace will be ignored.')
    a = p.parse_args()
    for f in a.files:
        columnize(f, max(int(a.ncols) - 1, 1))


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()