--- macros/util/formatman.sci.orig	Fri Mar  2 03:50:36 2001
+++ macros/util/formatman.sci	Thu Dec 20 17:34:38 2001
@@ -389,5 +389,5 @@
   end
 end
-function wh=asciiwhatis(path,fnam)
+function wh_out=asciiwhatis(path,fnam)
 txt=mgetl(path)
 d=find(part(txt,1:8)=='.SH NAME')
@@ -401,5 +401,17 @@
 wh=stripblanks(wh)
 k=find(wh=='');if k<>[] then wh(k)=[];end
-wh=wh+'  @'+fnam
+sz=size(wh);
+for i=1:sz(1),
+// pad the output to make the descriptions all line up on the left
+ind=min(strindex(wh(i,:),' - '))-1;
+ind=ind(1);
+tmps=sprintf('%-15s%s',part(wh(i),1:ind),part(wh(i),(ind+1):length(wh(i))));
+tmps=tmps +'  @'+fnam
+if (i == 1),
+  wh_out = tmps;
+else
+  wh_out=sprintf('%s\n%s',wh_out,tmps);
+end
+end
 
 function wh=texwhatis(path,fnam)
@@ -426,5 +438,10 @@
   p=p(1)
 
-  whk=part(whk,1:p-1)+'</a>'+part(whk,p:length(whk))
+  // pad the output to make the descriptions all line up on the left
+  pad='';
+  for i=1:(15-p),
+    pad=pad+'&nbsp';
+  end
+  whk=part(whk,1:p-1)+'</a>'+pad+part(whk,p:length(whk))
   wh(k)='<br><a href=""'+fnam+'"">'+whk+'<br>'
 end