Reformat text as columns in Notepad++?

Notepad++ has a plugin that does this for you. It's called "Code alignment". It allows you to align text vertically based on characters of your choosing. You can install it via the Plugin Manager for notepad.

Below is a simple usage scenario. You start off with the following code, then you align by "equals" which is a built-in shortcut/command for the plugin.

After that, you end up with the following below:

You can also take it a step further and use the "align by..." command which allows you to specify any arbitrary alignment string. In the example below, I chose the "#" character in order to align my comments next to one another. This could just as easily have been a longer string, and not one of length 1.

End result below:

Source