Groovy format text separated by a character/string in fixed width columns

formatTextInColumns.groovy

def formatTextInColumns(def text, def separator, boolean mantainSeparator){
	if (!text){
		return ""
	}
	def columnSize = []
	def result = ""
	text.eachLine{
		it.split("\\"+separator).eachWithIndex{element, index ->
			if (element.length()>columnSize[index]?:0){
				columnSize[index]=element.length()
			}
		}
	}
	text.eachLine{
		it.split("\\"+separator).eachWithIndex{element, index ->
			result += element + ' ' * ((columnSize[index]?:0)-element.length()) + (mantainSeparator?separator:" ")
		}
		result += System.lineSeparator
	}
	return result
}

example:

println "example1 without separators"
println formatTextInColumns("""\
aaa|bbbb|ccc
d|e|f|g
h|iiiiiiiiiii
jjjjjjj

end""","|",false)

println "example2 with separators"
println formatTextInColumns("""\
aaa|bbbb|ccc
d|e|f|g
h|iiiiiiiiiii
jjjjjjj

end""","|",true)

output:

example1 without separators
aaa     bbbb        ccc 
d       e           f   g 
h       iiiiiiiiiii 
jjjjjjj 

end     

example2 with separators
aaa    |bbbb       |ccc|
d      |e          |f  |g|
h      |iiiiiiiiiii|
jjjjjjj|
       |
end    |

If you are using jenkins groovy, it has a bug (https://issues.jenkins-ci.org/browse/JENKINS-46988), then just replace "eachLine" to "split('\n').each".
Thanks to the author for this gist.