How do I install the Align Columns skill?

Run npx skillmds add vimalinx/align-columns in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Align Columns safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Capability flags: docs only. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Align Columns?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Align Columns free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Align Columns?

vimalinx (@vimalinx) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Align Columns by vimalinx — Agent Skill

Name: Align Columns
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: vimalinx

File contents

align-columns

Quick Start

Command: printf 'a\t1.2\nlonger\t10.35\n' | PATH=/home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin:$PATH /home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin/align-columns -a ln
Local executable: /home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin/align-columns
Full reference: See references/help.md for complete options

When To Use This Tool

Make tab-delimited tables easier to read in the terminal or in generated reports.
Align numeric columns on decimal points while leaving text columns left- or right-justified.
Inspect width requirements or add extra spacing before sharing intermediate outputs with humans.

Common Patterns

# 1) Left-align text and decimal-align numbers
printf 'a\t1.2\nlonger\t10.35\n' | \
  PATH=/home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin:$PATH \
  /home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin/align-columns -a ln

# 2) Use the built-in default layout shortcut
printf 'col1\tcol2\nx\ty\n' | \
  PATH=/home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin:$PATH \
  /home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin/align-columns -

# 3) Print only computed widths
printf 'a\t1.2\nlonger\t10.35\n' | \
  PATH=/home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin:$PATH \
  /home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin/align-columns -a w

Recommended Workflow

Start from tab-delimited input with a consistent column count.
Choose an alignment string with -a, remembering that the last letter repeats for remaining columns.
Tune indentation and spacing with -h and -g only after the basic alignment mode looks right.
Use the aligned output for human inspection, not as the canonical machine-readable representation.

Guardrails

This wrapper relies on transmute; calling the absolute path without the bio / EDirect bin directory on PATH can fail with transmute: command not found.
-help, --help, and help work, but -version is noisy in this environment because it delegates to einfo -version, which prints an error banner instead of a clean version string.
The script expects tab-delimited input, despite many autogenerated summaries calling it a general whitespace aligner.
Alignment letters are applied column-wise, with the last specified letter repeated for any remaining columns.

---name: align-columnsdescription: Use when pretty-printing tab-delimited output with left, center, right, or decimal-aware numeric alignment in EDirect text workflows.--- # align-columns ## Quick Start - **Command**: `printf 'a\t1.2\nlonger\t10.35\n' | PATH=/home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin:$PATH /home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin/align-columns -a ln` - **Local executable**: `/home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin/align-columns` - **Full reference**: See [references/help.md](references/help.md) for complete options ## When To Use This Tool - Make tab-delimited tables easier to read in the terminal or in generated reports. - Align numeric columns on decimal points while leaving text columns left- or right-justified. - Inspect width requirements or add extra spacing before sharing intermediate outputs with humans. ## Common Patterns ```bash # 1) Left-align text and decimal-align numbers printf 'a\t1.2\nlonger\t10.35\n' | \ PATH=/home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin:$PATH \ /home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin/align-columns -a ln ``` ```bash # 2) Use the built-in default layout shortcut printf 'col1\tcol2\nx\ty\n' | \ PATH=/home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin:$PATH \ /home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin/align-columns - ``` ```bash # 3) Print only computed widths printf 'a\t1.2\nlonger\t10.35\n' | \ PATH=/home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin:$PATH \ /home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin/align-columns -a w ``` ## Recommended Workflow 1. Start from tab-delimited input with a consistent column count. 2. Choose an alignment string with `-a`, remembering that the last letter repeats for remaining columns. 3. Tune indentation and spacing with `-h` and `-g` only after the basic alignment mode looks right. 4. Use the aligned output for human inspection, not as the canonical machine-readable representation. ## Guardrails - This wrapper relies on `transmute`; calling the absolute path without the bio / EDirect bin directory on `PATH` can fail with `transmute: command not found`. - `-help`, `--help`, and `help` work, but `-version` is noisy in this environment because it delegates to `einfo -version`, which prints an error banner instead of a clean version string. - The script expects tab-delimited input, despite many autogenerated summaries calling it a general whitespace aligner. - Alignment letters are applied column-wise, with the last specified letter repeated for any remaining columns.

Frequently asked questions