Tabs in print are not consistent python

Question

I want to have real tabs in a print but \\t only puts spaces. Eg:

 first:ThisIsLong         second:Short
 first:Short         second:ThisIsLong
         


        

Answer 1

Compute the maximum width needed for each column and then use string formatting to compose a format which specifies the desired width:

data = [['first:ThisIsLong', 'second:Short'],
        ['first:Short', 'second:ThisIsLong'],
        ['first:ThisIsEvenLonger', 'second:Short']]

widths = [max([len(item) for item in col]) for col in zip(*data)]
fmt = ''.join(['{{:{}}}'.format(width+4) for width in widths])
for row in data:
    print(fmt.format(*row))

yields

first:ThisIsLong          second:Short         
first:Short               second:ThisIsLong    
first:ThisIsEvenLonger    second:Short