Shell Programming and Scripting

while read line
do
  field=`echo $line | cut -d',' -f10`
  echo "   b4 change ${#field}    $field"
  field=$(printf "%-18s" "$field")
  echo "after change ${#field}    $field"
done < file1

   b4 change 13    WERK 28 - BUS
after change 18    WERK 28 - BUS
   b4 change 16    WERK 30 - UNIMOG
after change 18    WERK 30 - UNIMOG
   b4 change 9    LASTWAGEN
after change 18    LASTWAGEN
   b4 change 17    WERK 65 - TRANSP.
after change 18    WERK 65 - TRANSP.
   b4 change 6    DB-PKW
after change 18    DB-PKW
   b4 change 6    DB-LKW
after change 18    DB-LKW
   b4 change 3    600
after change 18    600
   b4 change 16    600 LANG 4-T RIG
after change 18    600 LANG 4-T RIG
   b4 change 12    600 LANDAUER
after change 18    600 LANDAUER
   b4 change 16    600 LANG 6-T RIG
after change 18    600 LANG 6-T RIG

$ a="1 2 3"
$ a=$(printf "%-18s" $a)
$ echo ${#a}
54

$ a="1 2 3"
$ a=$(printf "%-18s" "$a")
$ echo ${#a}
18