gistfile1.txt

$ cat templatize.py
def templatize(*args):
    """A small utility function for printing values in columns of fixed width
       * the width is hardcoded as 20 in this case"""

    format_string = ""
    i = 0
    for arg in args:
        format_string += "{%d:>20}" % i
        i += 1
    print format_string.format(*args)
    
if __name__ == "__main__":
    templatize("Column1","LongColumn","ThisIsBig","AlmostTwentyChars")
    templatize("value 1",1,2,"value 4")
    templatize(4,"value 122112",1,2)

$ # the format string used in this example is constructed as "{0:>20}{1:>20}{2:>20}{3:>20}"
$ # here's the output:

$ python templatize.py 
             Column1          LongColumn           ThisIsBig   AlmostTwentyChars
             value 1                   1                   2             value 4
                   4        value 122112                   1                   2