How to print List as table in console application?

Question

I need Method to print List as table in console application and preview in convenient format like this:

Pom_No          Item_Code          ordered_qty                      received_qty

1011            Item_Code1         ordered_qty1                    received_qty1 

1011            Item_Code2         ordered_qty2                    received_qty2

1011            Item_Code3         ordered_qty3                    received_qty3

1012            Item_Code1         ordered_qty1                    received_qty1 

1012            Item_Code2         ordered_qty2                    received_qty2

1012            Item_Code3         ordered_qty3                    received_qty3

H H · Accepted Answer · 2022-06-17T12:23:53.303

51

Your main tool would be

Console.WriteLine("{0,5} {1,10} {2,-10}", s1, s2, s3);

The ,5 and ,10 are width specifiers. Use a negative value to left-align.

Formatting is also possible:

Console.WriteLine("y = {0,12:#,##0.00}", y);

Or a Date with a width of 24 and custom formatting:

String.Format("Now = {0,24:dd HH:mm:ss}", DateTime.Now);

Edit, for C#6

With string interpolation you can now write

Console.WriteLine($"{s1,5} {s2,10} {s3,-10}");  
Console.WriteLine($"y = {y,12:#,##0.00}");

You don't need to call String.Format() explicitly anymore:

string s = $"Now = {DateTime.Now,24:dd HH:mm:ss}, y = {y,12:#,##0.00}" ;

edited Jun 17 '22 at 12:23

answered Apr 15 '12 at 09:06

H H

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Similar to [String.Format](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.string.format%28v=vs.110%29.aspx) – Cullub Sep 15 '14 at 21:22
1

This answer would be a lot better with sample output – James Wierzba Jul 06 '17 at 21:21
First solution doesn't seem to work with Debug.WriteLine. Is this specific to Console.WriteLine? – amarsha4 Dec 01 '17 at 10:30
Debug.WriteLine is different. You can use `Debug.Print(" format ", x, y)`. – H H Dec 01 '17 at 10:54
This seems to work only if the string length is the same of all items in the list. – dparkar Apr 04 '18 at 21:38

score 38 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 17 '16 at 21:57

The easiest this you can do is to use an existing library

Install-Package ConsoleTables

And then you can define your table like so:

ConsoleTable.From<Order>(orders).Write();

And it will give this output

| Id       | Quantity | Name              | Date                |
|----------|----------|-------------------|---------------------|
| 3355     | 6        | Some Product 3355 | 18-04-2016 00:52:52 |
| 3355     | 6        | Some Product 3355 | 18-04-2016 00:52:52 |
| 3355     | 6        | Some Product 3355 | 18-04-2016 00:52:52 |
| 3355     | 6        | Some Product 3355 | 18-04-2016 00:52:52 |
| 3355     | 6        | Some Product 3355 | 18-04-2016 00:52:52 |

Or define a custom table

var table = new ConsoleTable("one", "two", "three");
table.AddRow(1, 2, 3)
     .AddRow("this line should be longer", "yes it is", "oh");

table.Write();

For further examples checkout c# console table

Need a .NET Standard 2.0 version ... – Igor K Mar 03 '20 at 23:03 — Igor K, Mar 03 '20 at 23:03

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 15 '12 at 09:07

2

Use \t to put in tabs to separate the columns

answered Apr 15 '12 at 09:07

Gwyn Howell

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Tabs are only going to help you out when all data is of (almost) the same length. – Björn Boxstart Nov 02 '15 at 14:08

How to print List as table in console application?

3 Answers3

Edit, for C#6

Linked