# Created on savesnippets.com · https://savesnippets.com/MoAJOXzcUgHIOh
padr() { printf '%-*s' "$2" "$1"; }       # right-pad (left-align)
padl() { printf '%*s'  "$2" "$1"; }       # left-pad (right-align)

# Examples:
padr "alice" 12      # "alice       "
padl "alice" 12      # "       alice"

# Real-world: aligned table
printf '%-12s %5s\n' "USER" "JOBS"
for user in alice bob charlie dave; do
    printf '%-12s %5d\n' "$user" $RANDOM
done