Menu-less system and method for interactively manipulating and reformatting data entered in a tabular format in a data processing application

The present invention is directed at a simplified system and method for manipulating data in a data processing application. The system and method allow the user to manipulate data in a table-like manner without resorting to other data entry screens or windows to define a table-like structure. Rather, the table-like structure is defined by interactively monitoring inputs received from a user. For example, if a user enters a tab following data on a same line, the present invention will manipulate that data as two columns of information. Thus, without performing additional tasks tangential to inputting data, the user is provided with table-like features, such as wrapping text, adjusting column width, and the like. In another embodiment, the table-like structure is determined by scanning contiguous lines for lines with identical horizontal alignment in relation to a first line.