Printing Columns

[Mike C. Fletcher]

Straightforward approach (will be inefficient if you really do approach 
infinity though ;) )...

 >>> def indices( total, columns = 3 ):
...     rows, remainder = divmod( total, columns )
...     if remainder:
...         rows += 1
...     return [
...         range( row, total, rows )
...         for row in xrange(rows)
...     ]
...
 >>> def columnMajor( items, columns = 3, format = '%8d', joint="|"):
...     for row in indices(len(items),columns):
...         print joint.join([format%item for item in row])
...
 >>> columnMajor( range(23),4)
       0|       6|      12|      18
       1|       7|      13|      19
       2|       8|      14|      20
       3|       9|      15|      21
       4|      10|      16|      22
       5|      11|      17
 >>>

HTH,
Mike

Lindstrom Greg - glinds wrote:
...

>Given a list of length N with 0<=N<=infinity and a number of columns, C (C>0
>and may be less than N), how do we print out the elements of the list in the
>above (column major?) form?
>  
>
...

_______________________________________
  Mike C. Fletcher
  Designer, VR Plumber, Coder
  http://members.rogers.com/mcfletch/