How do I align columns in Python

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Python3.6

I want to print custom format but am facing an issue with alignment
This is my code:

import os
def has_data(file_name, res1=True):
    if not os.path.exists(file_name):
        res1 = False
    else:
        with open(file_name) as f:
            if not f.read():
                res1 = False
    return res1
def solution(file_name="data.txt"):
    header = ['test123', 'test12345', 'test123', 'test12345']
    data = ['test12345', 'test123', 'test123', 'test12345'] 
    if not has_data(file_name):
        contents = ["____________________________________________________"]
        contents.append("|" + "|".join(header) + "|")
        contents.append("|" + "--------------------------------------------------" + "|")
        contents.append("|" + "|".join(data) + "|")
        contents.append("|" + "^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^" + "|")
        with open(file_name, "w") as f:
            f.write("\n".join(contents))
    else:
        with open(file_name) as f:
            contents = f.readlines()[:-1]
            contents.append("|" + "==================================================" + "|")
            contents.append("|" + "|".join(data) + "|")
            contents.append("|" + "^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^" + "|")

            with open(file_name, "w") as f2:
                f2.write("\n".join(contents))
solution()

by the way ^ is our end separator and should only appear at the end of the data = is our data separator and goes between data and - is our header separator between header and data
I want it so that if I run the file once the header and the data align and if I run it again with different length data it looks at header and all old data and aligns with it by adding or removing spaces and also align the length of the separators and end

The output I get when I run the code once while the data being

data = ['test12345', 'test123', 'test123', 'test12345'] 

____________________________________________________
|test123|test12345|test123|test12345|
|--------------------------------------------------|
|test12345|test123|test123|test12345|
|^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^|

The output I get when I run the code twice while the data being

data = ['test12345', 'test12345678', 'test12345678', 'test12345']

____________________________________________________

|test123|test12345|test123|test12345|

|--------------------------------------------------|

|test12345|test123|test123|test12345|

|==================================================|
|test12345|test12345678|test12345678|test12345|
|^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^|

But the output I want when I run it for the first time:

____________________________________________________
|test123  |test12345|test123|test12345             |#header
|--------------------------------------------------|
|test12345|test123  |test123|test12345             |#newest data
|^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^|

And for the second time:

But the output I want when I run it for the first time:

____________________________________________________
|test123  |test12345   |test123     |test12345     |#header
|--------------------------------------------------|
|test12345|test123     |test123     |test12345     |#old data
|==================================================|
|test12345|test12345678|test12345678|test12345     |#newest data
|^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^|

If you dont understand me well say so and I will try to explain in more detail + any help would be appreciated thanks

What I have tried:

I tried:

import os


def align_column(items, length):
    res = []
    for index, item in enumerate(items):
        item_length = len(item)
        if item_length < length[index]:
            res.append(item + " " * (length[index] - item_length))
        else:
            res.append(item)
    return "|" + "|".join(res) + "|"

def has_data(file, res1=True):
    if not os.path.exists(file):
        res1 = False
    else:
        with open(file) as f:
            if not f.read():
                res1 = False
    return res1
def solution(file_name="data.txt"):
    header = ['test123', 'test12345', 'test123', 'test12345']
    data = ['test12345', 'test12345678', 'test12345678', 'test12345'] 
    length = [len(max(item, key=len)) for item in zip(header, data)]   
    length_total = sum(length) + len(length) + 1   
    if not has_data(file_name):  
        contents = ["_" * length_total]
        contents.append(align_column(header, length))
        contents.append("|" + "-" * (length_total - 2) + "|")
        contents.append(align_column(data, length))
        contents.append("|" + "^" * (length_total - 2) + "|")

        with open(file_name, "w") as f:
            f.write("\n".join(contents))
    else:
        with open(file_name) as f:
            contents = f.readlines()[:-1]

            contents.append("|" + "=" * (length_total - 2))
            contents.append(align_column(data, length))
            contents.append("|" + "^" * (length_total - 2))

            with open(file_name, "w") as f2:
                f2.write("\n".join(contents))


solution()

But it only aligned the first piece of data with the header only but the rest of the data / new data it wouldn't align and I tried mixing it with the else statement but it wouldn't work