Print list in table format in python

Question

I am trying to print several lists (equal length) as columns of an table.

I am reading data from a .txt file, and at the end of the code, I have 5 lists, which I would like to print as columns separated but space.

Answer 1

I'll show you a 3-list analog:

>>> l1 = ['a', 'b', 'c']
>>> l2 = ['1', '2', '3']
>>> l3 = ['x', 'y', 'z']
>>> for row in zip(l1, l2, l3):
...     print ' '.join(row)

a 1 x
b 2 y
c 3 z

Answer 2

You can use my package beautifultable . It supports adding data by rows or columns or even mixing both the approaches. You can insert, remove, update any row or column.

Usage

>>> from beautifultable import BeautifulTable
>>> table = BeautifulTable()
>>> table.column_headers = ["name", "rank", "gender"]
>>> table.append_row(["Jacob", 1, "boy"])
>>> table.append_row(["Isabella", 1, "girl"])
>>> table.append_row(["Ethan", 2, "boy"])
>>> table.append_row(["Sophia", 2, "girl"])
>>> table.append_row(["Michael", 3, "boy"])
>>> print(table)
+----------+------+--------+
|   name   | rank | gender |
+----------+------+--------+
|  Jacob   |  1   |  boy   |
+----------+------+--------+
| Isabella |  1   |  girl  |
+----------+------+--------+
|  Ethan   |  2   |  boy   |
+----------+------+--------+
|  Sophia  |  2   |  girl  |
+----------+------+--------+
| Michael  |  3   |  boy   |
+----------+------+--------+

Have fun

Answer 3

Assming that you have a lists of lists:

for L in list_of_lists:
    print " ".join(L)

The str.join(iterable) function, joins the components of an iterable by the string given.

Therefore, " ".join([1, 2, 3]) becomes "1 2 3".

In case I might have misunderstood the question and each list is supposed to be a column:

for T in zip(list1, list2, list3, list4, list5):
    print " ".join(T)

zip() merges the given lists to one list of tuples:

>>> zip([1,2,3], [4,5,6], [7,8,9])
[(1, 4, 7), (2, 5, 8), (3, 6, 9)]

Cheers!

Answer 4

for nested_list in big_container_list
    print '\t'.join(nested_list)

with \t being the tabulation character

quick example:

In [1]: a = [['1','2'],['3','4']]
In [5]: for nested_list in a:
...:     print '\t'.join(nested_list)
...: 
1       2
3       4

Answer 5

Try out my library

NOTE: This answer is already posted on this question, and this question.

I just made a library for this that I think could really help. It is extremely simple, that's why I think you should use it. It is called TableIT.

Basic Use

To use it, first follow the download instructions on the GitHub Page.

Then import it:

import TableIt

Then make a list of lists where each inner list is a row:

table = [
    [4, 3, "Hi"],
    [2, 1, 808890312093],
    [5, "Hi", "Bye"]
]

Then all you have to do is print it:

TableIt.printTable(table)

This is the output you get:

+--------------------------------------------+
| 4            | 3            | Hi           |
| 2            | 1            | 808890312093 |
| 5            | Hi           | Bye          |
+--------------------------------------------+

Field Names

You can use field names if you want to (if you aren't using field names you don't have to say useFieldNames=False because it is set to that by default):

TableIt.printTable(table, useFieldNames=True)

From that you will get:

+--------------------------------------------+
| 4            | 3            | Hi           |
+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| 2            | 1            | 808890312093 |
| 5            | Hi           | Bye          |
+--------------------------------------------+

There are other uses to, for example you could do this:

import TableIt

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

TableIt.print(myList, useFieldNames=True)

From that:

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

Or you could do:

import TableIt

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

TableIt.printTable(myList, useFieldNames=True)

And from that you get:

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

Colors

You can also use colors.

You use colors by using the color option (by default it is set to None) and specifying RGB values.

Using the example from above:

import TableIt

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

TableIt.printTable(myList, useFieldNames=True, color=(26, 156, 171))

Then you will get:

Please note that printing colors might not work for you but it does works the exact same as the other libraries that print colored text. I have tested and every single color works. The blue is not messed up either as it would if using the default 34m ANSI escape sequence (if you don't know what that is it doesn't matter). Anyway, it all comes from the fact that every color is RGB value rather than a system default.

More Info

For more info check the GitHub Page