Insert space between two words

Hi,

I need to insert space between words on my output in UNIX other than the single space given by the space bar on my keyboard, e.g 

when        are        you        going

. (There should be 4 spaces between each of these words)
rather than

when are you going

Can anyone help me with this?

Regards,

• diroro12 -

sp3="   "
a=A
b=B
echo "$a $sp $b"

works with sh and ksh and bash

Thanks jgt.

• divroro12 -

$ echo "when are you going" |  awk '$1=$1' OFS="    "
when    are    you    going