tabulador

Tabulador is a term used in Spanish and Portuguese to denote a device, instrument, or software that performs tabulation—organizing information in a tabular format with rows and columns. The word can refer to mechanical tabulation devices, typographic features used to set tab stops, or computer software components that format data for display or printing.

Historically, tabuladores were used to count, classify, and summarize large data sets, particularly in government statistics. The Hollerith tabulator, developed in the late 19th century, automated census processing by punching data on cards and aggregating results, a lineage that contributed to the development of early computers and data-processing systems.

In modern usage, tabulador often describes software tools that present data in tables, such as database query results, spreadsheets, and data grids. The concept also covers text formatting in word processing, where a tabulador setting determines horizontal alignment within a line. The broader act of organizing data into rows and columns is known as tabulación.

Etymology traces tabulador to tabula, Latin for “table,” and to tabulación in Spanish and Portuguese. Related terms exist across Romance languages, reflecting the long-standing idea of arranging informational content in tabular form.