PL/SQL: Center query RESULTS - oracle

Question

I've googled all I know how to Google. I need some new eyes to look at this.
I am trying to center the RESULTS of a query. Here is what I have so far ...
set lines 2000 pages 2000
COLUMN total HEADING "Total" FORMAT A20 JUSTIFY CENTER
COLUMN sending_fi HEADING "Sending M" FORMAT A20 JUSTIFY CENTER
COLUMN receiving_fi HEADING "Receiving M" FORMAT A20 JUSTIFY CENTER
COLUMN status HEADING "Payment Status" FORMAT A20 JUSTIFY CENTER
SET UNDERLINE =
select
count(*) as "Total",
p.sending_fi,
p.receiving_fi,
p.status
from
my_schema.my_table p
where
p.match_date
between
to_date
(
'2017/10/26:00:00:00',
'yyyy/mm/dd:hh24:mi:ss'
)
and
to_date
(
'2017/10/28:23:59:59',
'yyyy/mm/dd:hh24:mi:ss'
)
and
p.expedited='1'
and
p.status='DELIVERED'
group by
p.sending_fi,
p.receiving_fi,
p.status
order by
1
DESC
;
Which produces this output ...
Total Sending M Receiving M Payment Status
==================== ==================== ==================== =================
266759 BAC BAC DELIVERED
49954 JPM BAC DELIVERED
45194 BAC JPM DELIVERED
25990 WFC BAC DELIVERED
25676 JPM WFC DELIVERED
24120 WFC JPM DELIVERED
23565 BAC WFC DELIVERED
The COLUMN HEADERS (names) are centered, but for the life of me, I can't figure out how to center the results.
I'm a non-privileged user (all i ever really do are select update and insert), with very limited SQL skills. Please be gentle in your suggestions.

Answer 1

Originally I wrote this as a Comment. Then I thought of closing the question as a duplicate; but the only duplicate I found has no answers: just a Comment saying the same thing. (I should know, it was my Comment then, too!)
Column Formatting JUSTIFY not working
ANSWER:
It looks like you want an answer in SQL*Plus. There is no answer. Strings and dates are always aligned to the left side of the column, and numbers to the right. Period. You can't change that (other than by adding to the strings themselves, in the query - by padding with spaces; a complete waste of time!) If you need to generate "good looking" reports, and what is available in SQL*Plus is not good enough, you must use a reporting tool; can't be done in SQL*Plus.
There seems to be some confusion about the SQL command COLUMN ... FORMAT ... JUSTIFY. Here is what the manual says:
JUS[TIFY] {L[EFT] | C[ENTER] | R[IGHT]}
Aligns the heading. If you do not use a JUSTIFY clause, headings for NUMBER columns default to RIGHT and headings for other column types default to LEFT.
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/B19306_01/server.102/b14357/ch12013.htm#BACHCABF

Answer 2

You might be able to use LPAD.
Here is a quick example:
COLUMN blks HEADING "Num Blocks" FORMAT A10 JUSTIFY CENTER
select
lpad(to_char(blocks),(10-length(to_char(blocks)))/2+length(to_char(blocks)),' ') blks
from user_segments
where rownum < 11;
The idea is to pad the column on the left with half of the difference between the format size and the size of the column value in spaces.
Output:
Num Blocks
----------
16
16
16
16
16
16
16
16
16
16
10 rows selected.
Bobby

Answer 3

Bobby's answer will work for text output. You can also make use of the HTML markup feature of sqlplus and produce formatted html output. An example which extends https://docs.oracle.com/database/121/SQPUG/ch_seven.htm#SQPUG531 would be
create table t1 (
id number
, dt date
, vc varchar2(20)
, constraint pk_t1 primary key (id) );
begin
for i in 1..10 loop
insert into t1 values (i,sysdate + i , 'Row '||i);
end loop;
commit;
end;
/
SET MARKUP HTML ON PREFORMAT OFF ENTMAP ON -
HEAD "<TITLE>Department Report</TITLE> -
<STYLE type='text/css'> -
<!-- BODY {background: #FFFFC6} --> -
<!-- TD { text-align: center} --> -
</STYLE>" -
BODY "TEXT='#FF00Ff'" -
TABLE "WIDTH='90%' BORDER='5'"
Then run
spool t.html
followed by your query and then
host firefox t.html