Sometimes you need to output tables on the console with Python. This module may be used to pretty print them. Input data provided as lists is analyzed and each cell gets formatted according the cell with the maximum length. The cell data gets aligned and printed surrounded by ASCII boxes. You might have seen a similar data output in tools like the mysql client

The script

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
#Copyright (c) 2011, Reiner Rottmann
#All rights reserved.
#
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#are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
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#      this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
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#      this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
#      and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
#    * Neither the name of the  nor the names of its contributors
#      may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
#      without specific prior written permission.
#
#THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND
#ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
#WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
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"""
Print table module. Draws ASCII boxes to pretty print lists.
"""
import types
import math

__author__ = "rottmrei"
__date__ = "$28.01.2011 19:43:01$"

def print_table_row(row, top_border=False, bottom_border=False):
    """Prints columns of a single table row with ascii cell seperator and
    an optional top and/or bottom border line.
    """
    if not type(row) == types.ListType:
        print "ERROR: A line has to be of the type ListType."
        return 1
    cc = "+"
    """corner char"""
    hc = "-"
    """horizontal char"""
    vc = "|"
    """vertical char"""
    # create seperator line and output row
    sep = ""
    """seperator line"""
    out = ""
    """output row"""
    sep = cc
    out = vc
    c = 0
    for col in row:
        sep = sep + hc * len(col) + cc
        out = out + row[c] + vc
        c += 1
    # now print table row
    if top_border:
        print sep
    print out
    if bottom_border:
        print sep
    return 0

def print_table(rows):
    """Prints the rows of a table by calling print_table_row function.
    The first row is assumed to be the heading line. The heading line
    and the last line of the table are printed with seperator lines.
    """
    if not type(rows) == types.ListType:
        print "ERROR: Table rows have to be of the type ListType."
        return 1
    r = 0
    """row counter"""
    # space-pad the cells and right align the contents
    c = 0
    """column number"""
    while c < len(rows[0]):
        col = get_column(rows, c)
        cell_width = max_cell_length(col)
        for row in rows:
            if row[c]:
                row[c] = align_cell_content(row[c], cell_width, 1, False)
        c+=1
    for row in rows:
        if r == 0 and len(rows) > 0:
            print_table_row(row, True, True)
        else:
            if r == len(rows)-1:
                print_table_row(row, False, True)
            else:
                print_table_row(row)
        r += 1
    return 0

def get_column(matrix=[], column=0):
    """Returns one column from the given matrix."""
    col = []
    for row in matrix:
        cell=""
        if len(row) >= column:
            cell = row[column]
        col.append(cell)
    return col

def max_cell_length(cells):
    """Returns the length of the longest cell from all the given cells."""
    max_len=0
    for c in cells:
        cur_len=len(c)
        if cur_len > max_len:
            max_len = cur_len
    return max_len

def align_cell_content(cell, max_cell_length=0, alignment=0, truncate=True):
    """Returns the given cell padded with spaces to the max_cell_length.
    You may choose the alignment of the cell contents:

    0 : align left
    1 : align right
    2 : center

    In case the cell contents is longer than max_cell_length, the contents
    gets truncated. You may choose to not truncate any cell data.
    """

    if max_cell_length == 0:
        return cell
    cur_cell_length=len(cell)
    padding=max_cell_length-cur_cell_length
    if padding == 0: return cell
    if padding < 0:
        if truncate:
            return cell[:max_cell_length]
        else:
            return cell
    else:
        if alignment == 0:
            # align left
            return cell + " " * padding
        if alignment == 1:
            # align right:
            return " " * padding + cell
        else:
            # center
            pl = int(math.ceil(padding / 2.0))
            pr = padding -pl
            return " " * pl + cell + " " * pr

def test_print_table():
    """Test function for print_table().

    Produces the following output:

    +----+----+---------------+
    |some|test|           data|
    +----+----+---------------+
    |   1|   2|              3|
    |   2|   4|              6|
    |   3|   8|             12|
    |   4|  16|             24|
    |   5|  32|look here--->48|
    +----+----+---------------+

    """
    test_table = []
    test_table.append(["some", "test", "data"])
    test_table.append(["1", "2", "3"])
    test_table.append(["2", "4", "6"])
    test_table.append(["3", "8", "12"])
    test_table.append(["4", "16", "24"])
    test_table.append(["5", "32", "look here--->48"])
    print_table(test_table)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    test_print_table()