old_contents: from __future__ import print_function
  
  import argparse
  import shcol
  
  __all__ = ['main']
  
  def main(cmd_args):
      parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
          description='Generate columnized output for given string items.',
          version='shcol {}'.format(shcol.__version__)
      )
      parser.add_argument('items', nargs='+', help='the items to columnize')
      parser.add_argument(
          '-s', '--spacing', metavar='N', type=int, default=2,
          help='number of blanks between two columns (default: 2)'
      )
      parser.add_argument(
          '-w', '--width', metavar='N', type=int, default=80,
          help='maximal amount of characters per line (default: 80)'
      )
      parser.add_argument(
          '-S', '--sort', help='sort the items',
          action='store_true', default=False
      )
      print(shcol.columnize(args.items, args.spacing, args.width, args.sort))
  
new_contents: from __future__ import print_function
  
  import argparse
  import shcol
  import sys
  
  __all__ = ['main']
  
  def main(cmd_args):
      parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
          description='Generate columnized output for given string items.',
          version='shcol {}'.format(shcol.__version__)
      )
      parser.add_argument(
          'items', nargs='*', metavar='item', help='an item to columnize'
      )
      parser.add_argument(
          '-s', '--spacing', metavar='N', type=int, default=2,
          help='number of blanks between two columns (default: 2)'
      )
      parser.add_argument(
          '-w', '--width', metavar='N', type=int, default=80,
          help='maximal amount of characters per line (default: 80)'
      )
      parser.add_argument(
          '-S', '--sort', action='store_true', default=False,
          help='sort the items'
      )
      args = parser.parse_args(cmd_args[1:])
      items = args.items or [line.rstrip('\n') for line in sys.stdin]
      print(shcol.columnize(items, args.spacing, args.width, args.sort))
  
subject: Read from Stdin when no items are passed.