Getting PHP variables to display fixed length

Hello,
I am coding a menu using PHP. Selections on the menu have code like :

<li> <a href="Updatefindatesedit.php">$fin_name1 $fin_date1 </a></li>
<li> <a href="Updatefindatesedit.php">$fin_name2 $fin_date2 </a></li>
etc


My problem is the $fin_name1 variables can be anywhere from 1 - 20
characters

so my menu items come out looking like
Joe 2000/01/01
Fred 2001/01/02
Alexander 2001/01/03

Can I get the $fin_name* variable to take up a fixed amount of space
when displaying? My idea is to use strlen on fin_name and put a number
of &nbsp's between, but that sure seems like a dumb way to do it. I
figure someone with more knowledge can tell me an easier way to do
it....
TIA
Japhy

.

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