Modern Python Standard Library Cookbook

Sizing terminal text

We saw the Aligning text recipe in Chapter 2, Text Management, which showcased a possible solution to align text within a fixed space. The amount of space available was defined in a COLSIZE constant that was chosen to fit most terminals with three columns (most terminals fit 80 columns).

But what happened if the user had a terminal window smaller than 60 columns? Our alignment would have been broken badly. Also, on very big windows, while the text wouldn't be broken, it would have looked too small compared to the window.

For this reason, it's usually better to also take into consideration the size of the user terminal window whenever displaying text that should retain proper alignment properties.