Indentation misplaced while creating PDF using perl module PDF::API2 - perl

Question

I have data in an array and I can write the data into a pdf format using PDF::API2 .But the problem is during the writing process the Indentation(spaces) is not exactly same as in the array
In array format:
ATOM 1 N MET A 0 24.277 8.374 -9.854 1.00 38.41 N 0.174
ATOM 38 OE2 GLU A 4 37.711 19.692 -12.684 1.00 28.70 O 0.150
In PDF format:
ATOM 1 N MET A 0 24.277 8.374-9.8541.0038.41 N 0.174
ATOM 38 OE2 GLU A 4 37.71119.692-12.684 1.00 28.70 O 0.150
My code:
my $pdf = PDF::API2->new(-file => "/home/httpd/cgi-bin/new.pdf");
$pdf->mediabox("A4");
my $page = $pdf->page;
my $fnt = $pdf->corefont('Arial',-encoding => 'latin1');
my $txt = $page->text;
$txt->textstart;
$txt->font($fnt, 8);
$txt->translate(100,800);
$j1=0;
for($i=0;$i<=scalar(#ar_velz);$i++) #Data input to write in PDF
{
$txt->lead(10);
$txt->section("$ar_velz[$i]", 500, 800); #writing each array index
if($j1 == 75) #To create a page for every 75 lines
{
$page = $pdf->page;
$fnt = $pdf->corefont('Arial',-encoding => 'latin1');
$txt = $page->text;
$txt->textstart;
$txt->font($fnt, 8);
$txt->lead(10);
$txt->translate(100,800);
$j1=0;
}
$j1++;
}
$txt->textend;
$pdf->save;
$pdf->end( );
}

Answer 1

That happens because Arial is not a mono-spaced font. The characters all have different widths. Especially a blank space is usually not very wide. If you want the spacing to stay intact, you need to use a mono-spaced font, such as Courier.
$fnt = $pdf->corefont('Courier',-encoding => 'latin1');
That fact is also why PDF::API2 includes a method advancewidth in its PDF::API2::Content class. You can use that to check if a block of text is too wide to fit into a line, and manually wrap it if needed. Of course for your table, that doesn't help.
An alternative to the mono-spaced font might be to use PDF::Table, which can create tables inside a PDF::API2 document.