TableIt

Installation

Installing this library is super easy! There are two ways you can do it.

Install the TableIt.py file into each of you project's directories. This solution doesn't allow repeated use, you have to do it for each project.
Install the TableIt.py file into your \<Directory to python>\Python\Python38-32\Lib\site-packages path (note that your path will most likely have a different version of python and your python installation may come from a different place). This solution allows repeated use, you only have to do it once.

Intro

TableIt is a free open-source python library that prints arrays as tables to the console.

Example

This library is extremly simple, to use it make a list of lists, each inner list should be a row. The amount of elements in each inner list needs to be uniform.

For example,

table = [
    [1, 2, 3.0],
    [5.0, 400, 1],
    ["Hi", 3, 2]
]

Will print:

+-----------------+
| 1   | 2   | 3.0 |
| 5.0 | 400 | 1   |
| Hi  | 3   | 2   |
+-----------------+

It can also print:

+-----------------+
| 1   | 2   | 3.0 |
+-----+-----+-----+
| 5.0 | 400 | 1   |
| Hi  | 3   | 2   |
+-----------------+

It's all your choice.

Using TableIt

To use TableIt, simply import TableIt after following the installation instructions from above

import TableIt

Then, create the list you would like to print

myList = [
    ["Name", "Email"],
    ["Richard", "richard@fakeemail.com"],
    ["Tasha", "tash@fakeemail.com"]
]

Then simply print it! Choose whether or not you would like field names (use True if so, don't put anything if not (don't include useFieldNames at all) because it defaults to False).

# NOTE: useFieldNames defaults to False, so, if you don't type useFieldNames=True it automatically goes to False
TableIt.printTable(myList, useFieldNames=True)

As output, you get:

+-----------------------------------------------+
| Name                  | Email                 |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+
| Richard               | richard@fakeemail.com |
| Tasha                 | tash@fakeemail.com    |
+-----------------------------------------------+

If you didn't want to use field names then you would only have to write:

TableIt.printTable(myList)

Another example:

myList = [
    ["", "a", "b"],
    ["x", "a + x", "a + b"],
    ["z", "a + z", "z + b"]
]

From that, you get:

+-----------------------+
|       | a     | b     |
+-------+-------+-------+
| x     | a + x | a + b |
| z     | a + z | z + b |
+-----------------------+

Using colors

You might want to use colors in TableIt. Using colors is an experimental feature that might not work for you, but, you can think of it like a bonus because I don't know other table libraries that can do this. I have tested it in the normal python IDLE, it doesn't work there. I have also tested it in the Windows Command Prompt, it works there to (as long as you run the initColors() function mentioned below). I also tested it in VS Code, it does work there. I'm not sure if it will work on Apple or Linux machines. In general, more feature-rich terminals should be able to use the colors.

To use them simply use RGB values, so, using the example from above:

import TableIt

TableIt.initColors()

myList = [
    ["", "a", "b"],
    ["x", "a + x", "a + b"],
    ["z", "a + z", "z + b"]
]

# The RGB values 26, 156, 171 make a cyan type of color
TableIt.printTable(myList, useFieldNames=True, color=(26, 156, 171))

As output you get:

You don't have to hard code in the RGB values for the color each time, you can store the color in a variable:

cyan = (26, 156, 171)

The initColors() function clears all output and should be run before all previous printing. It enables it to work on certain command lines.

Uses For TableIt

There are many uses for TableIt. I first created it as an output library for printing out matrices, since then I've found much more functionality. I recommend using this library any time you would like something formatted nicely for the user. If you just want to print out an array and don't care how it looks, then you probably don't have to use it. However, if you feel like taking the 2 extra seconds to:

import TableIt

and then:

TableIt.printTable(myTable)

instead of:

print(myTable)

Then you can be happy knowing that you get lots of added beauty for using one extra line of code.

Release Log

This is the list of updates which were not on my goals list or on the issues list (top of list is newer):

Added initColors() function to allow the colors option to work on more systems
useFieldNames defaults to False
color defaults to None
Added a license

Future Goals

I don't have lots of plans but some things that would definitely be worth considering are:

Adding an option for the elements in the table to be centered
Adding an option to choose whether the colors are on the top, side, or both
Adding default colors so that you don't have to choose RGB values (defaults like red, shades of blue and green, orange and yellow, etc.)
Complete rewrite of library structure
Complete rewrite of documentation

Accomplished Goals

These are goals that I preiously had which I achieved:

Colors are now an option in the table

Known Issues

These are the issues that I know of:

No known issues

Fixed Issues

When you call the function it no longer converts each element into a string

Go Print Tables!

That's enough of me talking! Go print some beautiful tables!

Support me on patreon!

Here is the link to my patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/supermazingcoder :D

SuperMaZingCoder / TableIt

readme