MonospaceTextFormatter

MonospaceTextFormatter is a Ruby Gem that formats monospaced text into a line or visual box of defined width and height boundaries (expressed in number of characters), by wrapping and/or truncating the text, and filling remaining area with spaces (or custom characters) so that it forms a rectangular block. It doesn't split words unless they are longer than the width boundary. It also applies horizontal and vertical alignment to the text. All these attributes are customizable and optional.

• MonospaceTextFormatter::Line class formats a single-line text;

• MonospaceTextFormatter::Box class formats multiple-line text.

Usage examples

Note: All the following attributes can also be provided in Hash as the second argument for the constructor.

MonospaceTextFormatter::Line

The line object for the following examples:

  line = MonospaceTextFormatter::Line.new("This is some text.")

  line.to_s
   => "This is some text."

• width (a number of characters)

  line.width = 20
  line.to_s
   => "This is some text.  "

  line.width = 16
  line.to_s
   => "This is some ..."

• padding_left and padding_right (in number of characters)

  line.padding_left = 3
  line.padding_right = 2

  line.to_s
   => "   This is ...  "

• omission

  line.omission = " [...]"
  line.to_s
   => "This is [...]   "

• align (available options: :left (default), :center and :right)

  line.align = :right
  line.to_s
   => "   This is [...]"

• fill

  line.fill = "-"
  line.to_s
   => "---This is [...]"

MonospaceTextFormatter::Box

The box object for the following examples:

  box = MonospaceTextFormatter::Box.new("First line.\nAnd second, a little bit longer line.")

  box.to_s
   => "First line.                          \nAnd second, a little bit longer line."

  box.lines
   => ["First line.                          ",
       "And second, a little bit longer line."]

• width (a number of characters)

  box.width = 20
  box.lines
   => ["First line.         ",
       "And second, a little",
       "bit longer line.    "]

• height (a number of lines)

  box.height = 5
  box.lines
   => ["First line.         ",
       "And second, a little",
       "bit longer line.    ",
       "                    ",
       "                    "]

  box.height = 2
  box.lines
   => ["First line.         ",
       "And second, a ...   "]

• padding_top, padding_right, padding_bottom and padding_left (in number of lines/characters)

  box.height = 5

  box.padding_top = 1
  box.padding_right = 1
  box.padding_bottom = 2
  box.padding_left = 2

  box.lines
   => ["                    ",
       "  First line.       ",
       "  And second, a ... ",
       "                    ",
       "                    "]

• omission

  box.omission = " [...]"
  box.lines
   => ["First line.         ",
       "And second, a [...] "]

• align (available options: :left (default), :center and :right)

  box.align = :center
  box.lines
   => ["    First line.     ",
       "And second, a [...] "]

• valign (available options: :top (default), :middle and :bottom)

  box.height = 5
  box.valign = :bottom
  box.lines
   => ["                    ",
       "                    ",
       "    First line.     ",
       "And second, a little",
       "  bit longer line.  "]

• fill

  box.fill = "#"
  box.lines
   => ["####################",
       "####################",
       "####First line.#####",
       "And second, a little",
       "##bit longer line.##"]

More can be found in RSpec examples.

Installation

As a Ruby Gem, MonospaceTextFormatter can be installed either by running

  gem install monospace_text_formatter

or adding

  gem "monospace_text_formatter"

to the Gemfile and then invoking bundle install.

License

License is included in the LICENSE file.