gistfile1.rb

#!/usr/bin/ruby
# Format columns in the Cucumber style

input = STDIN.read
margin_left = input =~ /\A(\s+)\S/ && $1
rows = input.split("\n").map {|line| line.strip.scan(/\|([^|]+)/).map {|column| column.first.strip } }
column_widths = rows.transpose.map {|column| column.map {|c| c.size }.max }

rows.each do |row|
    print margin_left
    row.each_with_index do |column, index|
        print "| %-#{column_widths[index]}s " % column
    end 
    puts "|"
end