def output_diagonal(text, k): if len(text) % k != 0: text += " " * (k-(len(text) % k)) for i in range(k): line = " " * i for j in range(len(text)//k): line += text[j*k + i] line += " " * (k-1) print(line.rstrip()) output_diagonal("abcdABCD1234568...uuu",5)