diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 471240cc73..ffb7e76b33 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1965,10 +1965,14 @@ die_unknown(){
     exit 1
 }
 
+print_3_columns() {
+    cat | tr ' ' '\n' | sort | pr -r -3 -t
+}
+
 show_list() {
     suffix=_$1
     shift
-    echo $* | sed s/$suffix//g | tr ' ' '\n' | sort | pr -3 -t
+    echo $* | sed s/$suffix//g | print_3_columns
     exit 0
 }
 
@@ -3841,7 +3845,7 @@ echo
 for type in decoder encoder hwaccel parser demuxer muxer protocol filter bsf indev outdev; do
     echo "Enabled ${type}s:"
     eval list=\$$(toupper $type)_LIST
-    print_enabled '_*' $list | sort | pr -r -3 -t
+    print_enabled '_*' $list | print_3_columns
     echo
 done