#!/usr/bin/awk -f BEGIN { LINELEN = 64 } { s[++i] = $0; n = length($0); maxlen = n > maxlen ? n : maxlen; } END { for (i = 1; i <= maxlen; i += LINELEN) for (j = 1; j <= NR; j++) { pref = i == 1 ? "" : ":"; suff = maxlen - i <= LINELEN ? "" : ":"; print pref substr(s[j], i, LINELEN) suff; } }