Making pretty column printed tables in Python

For some of my projects I needed support for nested tables. I'm still learning Python, so I decided to write a module myself.

There are better tested modules on the web:

• PrettyTable
• columnize
• tabulate

But they can't do what this baby can do ; ) Look at this awesome print!

A column width a Table ' Another Table
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
blk | freq | count     ' goodies
====+======+======     ' ````````````````````
ABC | 0.65 | 1337      ' newlines\n
----+------+------     ' in\n
ANR | 0.59 | 1200      ' cells\n
----+------+------     ' are\n
BJU | 0.53 | 1063      ' allowed!
----+------+------     ' ....................
CHZ | 0.47 | 926       ' long lines
----+------+------     ' get trunked
DHT | 0.41 | 789       ' automatically
----+------+------     ' when setting
EIR | 0.35 | 652       ' max_width
----+------+------     ' ....................
FKV | 0.29 | 515       ' cells can contain
----+------+------     ' any kind of object
GOZ | 0.24 | 378       ' like list, dicts
----+------+------     ' string, ints, floats
IKL | 0.18 | 241       ' and ofcourse
----+------+------     ' other Tables!
JUV | 0.12 | 104       '
---------------------------------------------
This final row is yet another Table!

Goodies

• Nested tables are allowed!
• Newlines in a cell are allowed.
• Tries to break a long line into multiple lines before printing.
• Trunking also available for lists, floats, ints, and of coures tables!
• Piping the output in terminal is possible, e.g. ... | head -10.
• Well documented, couple of testcases added.

Usages

1. Create a new table object: mytable = Table()
2. Add rows mytable.add_row(['A', 'row', 'with', 'five', 'columns']) and/or columns mytable.add_column(head='column', data=['A', 'column', 'with', 'five', 'rows'])
3. Add/replace heading: mytable.add_head(index=0, data=['This', 'table', 'looks', 'awesome'])
4. Customize a bit: T.row_sep='' T.col_sep='/' T.head_sep='o*'
5. Print the table: print(mytable)

This / table / looks / awesome /         / column
*****o*******o*******o*********o*********o*******
A    / row   / with  / five    / columns / A
     /       /       /         /         / column
     /       /       /         /         / with
     /       /       /         /         / five
     /       /       /         /         / rows

Module info

Table()

Construct tables ready for printing data into nice table-like output. Nested tables, and cells containing multiple lines, are allowed!

Object

properties:

max_width       -- Maxmum width of the Table.
fill            -- String of the default fill for empty cells.
col_sep         -- String of the column seperator used.
head_sep        -- String of the head/table seperator used.
row_count       -- Returns the numbers of rows in the Table as integer.
column_count    -- Returns the numbers of columns in the Table as
                   an integer.

methods:

add_head        -- Add a list of column headings to the table.
add_row         -- Add a list of row data to the table.
add_column      -- Add a list of column data to the table.
remove_head     -- Add a list of column headings to the table.
remove_row      -- Add a list of row data to the table.
remove_column   -- Add a list of column data to the table.
copy            -- Returns an instance Table containing specified
                   row(s) and/or column(s).
log             -- Same as print(Table.copy(row, column)).

Class

init

Keyword arguments:
data        -- Initial data. Needs to be an iterable object of
               iterable objects (default None).
rows        -- Number of initial rows (default 0).
               Creates one row if columns != 0.
columns     -- Number of initial columns (default 0).
               Creates one column if rows != 0.
max_width   -- Max width of the Table for printing (default None).
fill        -- Empty cell fill (default '').
head_sep    -- Seperator for heading/table.
               First char is the char at crossing of head_sep with
               col_sep, second char is the fillchar (default '+-').
               When one char is given, crosschar and fillchar are
               the same.
row_sep     -- Seperator between rows.
               First char is the char at crossing of col_sep and
               row_sep. Second char is the fillchar (default '+-').
               When one char is given, crosschar and fillchar are
               the same.
col_sep     -- Seperator between columns (default '|').

repr

Representation of this object. Nr of columns and rows are added.

str

A performance heavy operation. Returns a string representation,
of the current table. Trunks values as needed (set by max_width).
Also adds seperators specified by head_sep, row_sep and col_sep.

len

Returns the total width of the table when printed

max_width

Sets the max_width of the current table.

head_sep

Sets the head seperator string (two chars max).

row_sep

Sets the row seperator string (two chars max).

col_sep

Sets the column seperator string (one char max).

fill

Sets the default filling to use. Can be of any type.

row_count

Returns the numbers of rows in the Table as integer.

column_count

Returns the numbers of columns in the Table as integer.

column_widths

Return a list of column widths.

add_head()

Add a list of column headings to the table.
Custom decorator: @_add_data (see docstring)
Keyword arguments:
index   -- Index from where the data starts replacing the current head.
           (default None: end of head)
data    -- List containing the headings (default None).

add_row()

Add a list of row data to the table.
Custom decorator: @_add_data (see docstring)
Keyword arguments:
data    -- List containing cell data (default None)
index   -- The position of the newly added row starting at 0.
           (default None: last row)

add_column()

Add a list of column data to the table.
Custom decorator: @_add_data (see docstring)
Keyword arguments:
data    -- List containing cell data (default None).
head    -- The table heading of this column (default None).
index   -- The position of the newly added column starting at 0
           (default None: last column).

remove_head()

Removes range of head(s) of the table. Data is lost!
Custom decorator: @_remove_data (see docstring)
Keywordarguments:
column -- Integer or range of the columnhead(s) to be removed
          (default None: total heading removed).
Note: index start at 0!

remove_row()

Removes the row(s) of the table.
Custom decorator: @_remove_data (see docstring)
Keyarguments:
index      -- Integer or range of row(s) to be removed
              (default None: last row).
removehead -- Boolean: remove head when there are no rows left,
              leaving an empty table (default True).
Note: index start at 0!

remove_column()

Removes the column(s) of the table.
Custom decorator: @_remove_data (see docstring)
Keyarguments:
index      -- Integer or range of column(s) to be removed
              (default None: last column).
removehead -- Boolean: if true, head is also removed.
              If false, column still excists, but is filled
              with the default fill value (default True).
Note: index start at 0!

copy()

Returns an instance of the Table containing the heading and
Cell(s) from the current Table.
Note: If both row and column are ommited, return an instance of
the whole Table.
Keyword arguments:
row     -- Integer, range or list of the corresponding row(s)
           (default None).
column  -- Integer, range or list of the corresponding column(s)
           (default None).
Note: index start at 0!

log()

Prints the Cell, row or column.
Same as print(Table.copy(row, column)).
Keyword arguments:
row     -- Integer or range of the corresponding row(s)
           (default None).
column  -- Integer or range of the corresponding column(s)
           (default None).
Note: index start at 0!

ToDo

• Except any data=... on add_*(), but convert too list if not a list?
• Make logging more efficient...
• More/better testing

Wishlist

• More chars for seperators?
• Add sort method?
• Cells containing functions, for calculating sum, product etc.. of range of Cells
• Add max height?

Notes

• When setting max_width Table tries too shrink largest column first. This isn't always desirable, especially with nested tables of different sizes.
• Nested tables side by side won't line up row by row... This leaves room for discussion. At the end, it's a cell containing a table, not a splitted cell...