Unusual, sure, but I've frequently seen/written code like: if(haveitem) buf[i++] = item; and if(haveitem) line[i++%nline] += sprintf(" %8i",item); s

Unusual, sure, but I've frequently seen/written code like: if(haveitem) buf[i++] = item; and if(haveitem) line[i++%nline] += sprintf(" %8i",item); seems like an obvious way to evenly distribute column-grouped data.