This is a height-optimizing "tabulator" program that can reduce output terminal scrolling by several dozen times. (E.g., 40..80 per row for 1 byte columns.)
$ seq 1 84|flow # Run on an 80-column terminal
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49 52 55 58 61 64 67 70 73 76 79 82
2 5 8 11 14 17 20 23 26 29 32 35 38 41 44 47 50 53 56 59 62 65 68 71 74 77 80 83
3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 57 60 63 66 69 72 75 78 81 843 rows instead of 84. 84/3 = 28.0.
flow [optional-params]
Read maybe utf8-colored lines from input & flow them into shortest height table
of top-to-bottom, left-to-right columns & write to output.
Options:
-i=, --input= string "" use this input file; ""=>stdin
-o=, --output= string "" use this output file; ""=>stdout
-p=, --pfx= string "" pre-line prefix (e.g. indent)
-w=, --width= int 0 rendered width; 0: auto; <0: auto+THAT
-g=, --gap= int 1 max inter-column gap; <0: 1-column
-b, --byLen bool false sort by printed-length of row
-m=, --maxPad= int 99 max per-column padding
GNU/BSD column does something similar but does not support a concept of
printed/rendered length (i.e. utf8/ANSI SGR color escape sequences).