diff --git a/src/uu/pr/src/pr.rs b/src/uu/pr/src/pr.rs
index ae93335d5..2e6a870f8 100644
--- a/src/uu/pr/src/pr.rs
+++ b/src/uu/pr/src/pr.rs
@@ -1048,6 +1048,9 @@ fn to_table_merged(
 }
 
 /// Group lines of the file in columns, going top-to-bottom then left-to-right.
+///
+/// This function should be applied when there are more lines than the
+/// total number of cells in the table.
 fn to_table(
     content_lines_per_page: usize,
     columns: usize,
@@ -1062,6 +1065,26 @@ fn to_table(
         .collect()
 }
 
+/// Group lines of the file in columns, going top-to-bottom then left-to-right.
+///
+/// This function should be applied when there are fewer lines than the
+/// total number of cells in the table.
+fn to_table_short_file(
+    content_lines_per_page: usize,
+    columns: usize,
+    lines: &[FileLine],
+) -> Vec<Vec<Option<&FileLine>>> {
+    let num_rows = lines.len() / columns;
+    let mut table: Vec<Vec<_>> = (0..num_rows)
+        .map(|i| (0..columns).map(|j| lines.get(num_rows * j + i)).collect())
+        .collect();
+    // Fill the rest with Nones.
+    for _ in num_rows..content_lines_per_page {
+        table.push(vec![None; columns]);
+    }
+    table
+}
+
 #[allow(clippy::cognitive_complexity)]
 fn write_columns(
     lines: &[FileLine],
@@ -1112,7 +1135,9 @@ fn write_columns(
     // cells, where each row will be printed as a single line in the
     // output.
     let merge = options.merge_files_print.is_some();
-    let table = if across_mode {
+    let table = if !merge && (lines.len() < (content_lines_per_page * columns)) {
+        to_table_short_file(content_lines_per_page, columns, lines)
+    } else if across_mode {
         to_table_across(content_lines_per_page, columns, lines)
     } else if merge {
         to_table_merged(content_lines_per_page, columns, filled_lines)
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_pr.rs b/tests/by-util/test_pr.rs
index c4fee97ae..9c8c4264e 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_pr.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_pr.rs
@@ -667,6 +667,29 @@ fn test_form_feed_followed_by_new_line() {
         .stdout_matches(&regex);
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn test_columns() {
+    let whitespace = " ".repeat(50);
+    let datetime_pattern = r"\d\d\d\d-\d\d-\d\d \d\d:\d\d";
+    let header = format!("\n\n{datetime_pattern}{whitespace}Page 1\n\n\n");
+    // TODO Our output still does not match the behavior of GNU
+    // pr. The correct output should be:
+    //
+    //     "a\t\t\t\t    b\n";
+    //
+    let data = "a                                  \tb                                  \n";
+    let blank_lines_60 = "\n".repeat(60);
+    let pattern = format!("{header}{data}{blank_lines_60}");
+    let regex = Regex::new(&pattern).unwrap();
+
+    // Command line: `printf "a\nb\n" | pr -2`.
+    new_ucmd!()
+        .arg("-2")
+        .pipe_in("a\nb\n")
+        .succeeds()
+        .stdout_matches(&regex);
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn test_merge() {
     // Create the two files to merge.