diff --git a/contrib/latex_pretty_table.pl b/contrib/latex_pretty_table.pl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a2ead67790
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/latex_pretty_table.pl
@@ -0,0 +1,175 @@
+#!/msrc/apps/bin/perl
+#
+#  latex_pretty_table.pl
+#  Hugh L Taylor, Battelle / Pacific Northwest Laboratory 
+#  hl_taylor@pnl.gov 
+#  Sun Jun 25 1995
+#  $Log: not supported by cvs2svn $
+# Revision 1.7  1995/06/27  05:04:39  pg511
+# Cleanup.  Comments, variable names, help option.
+#;;
+#;; the following is an elisp keyboard macro to call this function from emacs
+#;; place it in your .emacs file
+#;;
+#;; temporary keyboard macro form of latex-pretty-table
+#;;
+#(fset 'latex-pretty-table
+#   [19 101 110 100 123 116 97 98 117 108 97 114 1 4194336 18 103 105 110 123 116 97 98 117 108 14 1 24 24 21 escape 124 108 97 116 101 120 95 112 114 101 116 116 121 95 116 97 98 108 101 46 112 108 return])
+
+#
+#
+{ require 'newgetopt.pl';
+#
+#  Handle the options (not used for the moment)
+#
+  &init_options;
+  &NGetOpt(@all_opts);
+  &handle_options;
+#
+  $iline = -1;
+
+#
+# read lines into array, saving the maximum length field for each column
+# of the table
+#
+  while (<>) {
+    chop;
+    $lines[++$iline] = " ".$_;	  # add lead space
+    $lines[$iline] =~ s/^\s+/ /g; # exactly one lead space
+    $lines[$iline] =~ s/&/ & /g;  # spaces around ampersands
+
+    @fields = split(/&/,$_);
+#
+#   last field might include \\ or that and following \hline(s)
+#   last field is then split in two
+#
+    @end_fields = split(/\\\\/,$fields[$#fields]);
+    pop(@fields);
+    push(@fields,($end_fields[0]));
+    
+    $multicolumn_skip = 0;
+    for ( $jfield=0; $jfield <=$#fields; $jfield++) { # 
+      $fields[$jfield] =~ s/^ +/ /g;	# 
+      $fields[$jfield] =~ s/ +$/ /g;	# <= 1 leading or trailing space
+      $temp_len = length($fields[$jfield]) 
+	  + &number_braces_in_string($fields[$jfield]);
+
+      if ($fields[$jfield] =~ /\\multicolumn\{(\d+)/) {	# multicolumn entry
+	$mc_columns = $1;
+	push(@multicolumn_list,($jfield+$multicolumn_skip,
+				$jfield+$multicolumn_skip+$mc_columns-1,
+				$temp_len));
+	$multicolumn_skip += $mc_columns-1;
+      } else {
+	$max_field_lengths[$jfield] = $temp_len
+	    if $max_field_lengths[$jfield] < $temp_len;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+#
+#  if a \multicolumn is longer than the combined lengths of the columns
+#  it covers, add to the length of the rightmost column
+#
+  $num_mc = ($#multicolumn_list+1)/3 - 1 ;
+
+  for ( $jfield=0; $jfield <=$#max_field_lengths; $jfield++) {
+    $max_field_lengths[$jfield] += 4; # a little extra room
+  }
+
+  for ($ii = 0; $ii <= $num_mc; $ii++) {
+    $left_column =  shift(@multicolumn_list);
+    $right_column = shift(@multicolumn_list);
+    $mc_length =  shift(@multicolumn_list);
+    $tot_length = 0;
+    for ($jj = $left_column; $jj <= $right_column; $jj++) {
+      $tot_length += $max_field_lengths[$jj];
+    }
+    if ($mc_length > $tot_length ) {
+      $max_field_lengths[$right_column] += $mc_length - $tot_length;
+    }
+  }
+
+#
+# loop over lines, rewriting them
+#
+  for ( $iline=0; $iline <= $#lines; $iline++ ) { # last line starting from 0
+    $#fields = 0;
+    @fields = split(/&/,$lines[$iline]);
+#
+#   last field might include \\ or that and following \hline
+#   field is then split in two
+#
+    @end_fields = split(/\\\\/,$fields[$#fields]);
+    pop(@fields);
+    push(@fields,($end_fields[0]));
+
+    $delim = " & ";
+    $multicolumn_skip = 0;	# running total of reduction in no. of columns
+    $mc_width = 0;
+
+    for ( $jfield=0; $jfield <=$#max_field_lengths; $jfield++) {
+      $fields[$jfield] =~ s/^ +/ /;	# 
+      $fields[$jfield] =~ s/ +$/ /;	# 1 leading or trailing space
+
+      $width = $max_field_lengths[$jfield+$multicolumn_skip];
+      if ($fields[$jfield] =~ /\\multicolumn\{(\d+)/) { # multicolumn field
+	$mc_width = $1;
+	for ($ii = 1; $ii < $mc_width; $ii++) {
+	  $width = $width + $max_field_lengths[$ii+$multicolumn_skip+$jfield];
+	}
+	$multicolumn_skip += $mc_width-1;
+      }
+
+      $format_string = "%-".$width."s";
+      $delim = "\\\\" if ($jfield == $#max_field_lengths-$multicolumn_skip);
+      $delim = "  "   if ($jfield  > $#max_field_lengths-$multicolumn_skip);
+
+      $outfield = sprintf("$format_string %s", $fields[$jfield], $delim);
+#
+#     sprintf sometimes yields too many chars (e.g. braces aren't counted)
+#
+      $extrachar = length($outfield) - $width;
+
+      while ($extrachar-- > 0) {$outfield =~ s/  / /};
+      printf("$format_string",$outfield);
+    }
+    printf(" %s",$end_fields[1]) if $#end_fields == 1;
+    print " \n";
+  }
+
+  exit;
+}
+#
+#
+#
+sub init_options {
+  @gen_opts = ('h','help');
+  @all_opts = ();
+  push(@all_opts,@gen_opts);
+}
+#
+#
+#
+sub handle_options {
+  &help && exit if ( $opt_h || $opt_help );
+#  $verbose = $opt_v || $opt_verbose ? 1 : 0;
+}
+#
+#
+#
+sub help {
+  print "Program:    latex_pretty_table.pl   A Perl script\n";
+  print "Purpose:    Reformats latex table contents into nice columns\n";
+  print "            for easy editing and reading.\n";
+  print "Usage:      latex_pretty_table.pl < infile > outfile\n";
+  print "            Meant to be called from emacs C-u M-|; \n";
+  print "            shell command on region, with output replacing region.\n";
+}
+
+sub number_braces_in_string {    # $string
+  local ($string,@temp) = @_;
+  @temp = split(/[\{\}]/,$string);
+  $number_braces_in_string = $#temp;
+}		
+  
+