right-align the amounts in a text using `jq`, avoiding `if-then-else`

Question

I would like to right-align the amounts in a text using jq.

INPUT='
# comment
lorem ipsum

* Header
2022-01-01 Internet
    provider       30.00 EUR
    router          5.00 EUR
2022-01-01 House
    rent       321.00 EUR
    carports    20.00 EUR, 20.00 EUR
'

I came up with a solution, bit it looks a bit too lengthy for me - is there a more concise solution that avoids if-then-else?

jq --raw-input --raw-output --argjson alignToColumn 40 '
  "\\d+\\.?\\d*\\s+EUR" as $searchPattern |
  if test($searchPattern)
  then match($searchPattern) as $match |
       sub($searchPattern;
           " " * ($alignToColumn - $match.offset - $match.length) +
           $match.string)
  else .
  end
' <<< "$INPUT"

Output

# comment
lorem ipsum

* Header
2022-01-01 Internet
    provider                   30.00 EUR
    router                      5.00 EUR
2022-01-01 House
    rent                      321.00 EUR
    carports                   20.00 EUR, 20.00 EUR

Answer 1

You can avoid if … then … else … end by using the alternative operator //.

"\\d+\\.?\\d*\\s+EUR" as $searchPattern | (match($searchPattern) as $m
  | .[:$m.offset] + ($alignToColumn - $m.offset - $m.length) * " " + .[$m.offset:]
) // .

# comment
lorem ipsum

* Header
2022-01-01 Internet
    provider                   30.00 EUR
    router                      5.00 EUR
2022-01-01 House
    rent                      321.00 EUR
    carports                   20.00 EUR, 20.00 EUR

Demo