diff --git a/tabulate/__init__.py b/tabulate/__init__.py
index 5589c11..fe148b0 100644
--- a/tabulate/__init__.py
+++ b/tabulate/__init__.py
@@ -331,6 +331,10 @@ def escape_empty(val):
         with_header_hide=["lineabove", "linebelow"],
     ),
     "plain": TableFormat(),
+    "flow": TableFormat(
+        align_columns=False,
+        elide_empty_columns=True,
+    ),
     "grid": TableFormat(
         lineabove=Line("+", "-", "+", "+"),
         linebelowheader=Line("+", "=", "+", "+"),
@@ -1639,6 +1643,14 @@ def tabulate(
     eggs  451
     ----  --------
 
+    "flow" applies no formatting and outputs each column stripped of
+    leading and trailing whitespace only putting whitespace between
+    non-empty columns.
+
+    >>> print(tabulate([["spam", "  ", 41.9999], ["eggs", "a", "451.0"]], tablefmt="flow"))
+    spam 41.9999
+    eggs a 451
+
     "grid" is similar to tables produced by Emacs table.el package or
     Pandoc grid_tables: