Printf - Specifying Data Type, Precision, And Field Width At Once

[chibineku]

I would like to output a few things very precisely. I want to display this - gross: £20.00P&P: £4.95total: £24.95but have the colons of the left hand words all line up vertically, and have the £ signs of the numbers line up vertically, so basically the fields need to be right aligned and the numbers left aligned. I am trying this using PHP's printf function, which at the moment looks like:<?php printf("%7s%-7s", "gross:","£$gross");?>$gross is a number that has been floatval() -ed. I have set the white-space attribute of the list item elements in which these values reside, but without <pre></pre> tags, it doesnt display right. with them, it still displays wrong. Here is the live example without pre tags:without pre tagsAnd here is one with:with pre tagsI have used printf to good effect before, but it is baffling me this time. Any help would be great.

[Synook]

Use a table. That's tabular data, anyway!

[chibineku]

Ha, you're right, it just feels wrong doing tables anymore...

Edited September 16, 2009 by chibineku

[Synook]

it is wrong to use tables for non-tabular data. It is wrong not to use tables for tabular data.

[justsomeguy]

You can also just float a couple divs, and align each one.<div style="width: 40px; text-align: right; float: left;">Gross:</div><div style="float: left; margin-left: 40px;">xxx</div><br style="clear: both;">I've used that style for various forms and things to get the labels to line up.

[chibineku]

True, I could do the div thing. I have used Synook's suggestion of a table already - it is tabular data, he's right, and it now lines up perfectly. I am also keen to make the site as accessible as possible and tables provide me with semantic elements that i can hide but which will be discoverable to screen readers so that users who browse differently know what's going on.