Aligning Text that is output to file? Columns

Question

I have some data which I run through, which generates a textfile.

The data is all pulled correctly, but it doesn't format correctly.

Right now, I am using TAB + Variable to space between each column but it is obviously made uneven as different variables differ in character length. Here is the layout:

RECORD       NAME       ADDRESS       TELEPHONE      SOMETHING         SOMETHING

... Data is here.

Any ideas?

Solution

String.Format is your friend here.
It's very powerfull and gives you the function to align your output.

For example: (EDIT: removed the txt prefix because could be confusing, now I suppose that data to be formatted is contained in string vars)

Dim result as string 
result = String.Format("{0,-10}{1,-30}{2,-30}{3,-10}{4,20}", Record, Name, Address, Telephone, Something) 

The result will be aligned to the left in a 10 space column for the first element (txtRecord) and so on for the remainders, the last element will be formatted in a column with 20 space and right aligned

If that's not enough look at composite formatting to get other useful options