.\" @(#)tt05 6.1 (Berkeley) 5/23/86
(the \s8ASCII\s0 `horizontal tab' character)
can be used to produce output in columns,
or to set the horizontal position of output.
tabs are used only in unfilled text.
Tab stops are set by default every half inch from the
To set stops every inch, for example,
Unfortunately the stops are left-justified only
so lining up columns of right-justified numbers can be painful.
If you have many numbers,
or if you need more complicated table layout,
program described in [3].
For a handful of numeric columns, you can do it this way:
Precede every number by enough blanks to make it line up
\0\01\0\fItab\fR\0\0\02\0\fItab\fR\0\0\03
\040\0\fItab\fR\0\050\0\fItab\fR\0\060
700\0\fItab\fR\0800\0\fItab\fR\0900
Then change each leading blank into the string
This is a character that does not print, but that has
the same width as a digit.
When printed, this will produce
It is also possible to fill up tabbed-over space with
some character other than blanks by setting the `tab replacement character'
^tc \e(ru (\e(ru is "\(ru")
Name \fItab\fR Age \fItab\fR
To reset the tab replacement character to a blank, use
(Lines can also be drawn with the
command, described in Section 6.)
also provides a very general mechanism called `fields'
for setting up complicated columns.
We will not go into it in this paper.