Python Tabulate Module: Create and Manipulate ASCII Tables

The tabulate module in Python allows you to create simple ASCII tables from lists or dictionaries of data.

It allows you to display data in a readable format in the console.

 

 

Basic Table Creation

You can use tabulate to turn lists of lists or dictionaries into formatted tables.

from tabulate import tabulate

# List of lists
data = [
    ["Ahmed", 28, "Engineer"],
    ["Fatima", 32, "Doctor"],
    ["Hassan", 24, "Teacher"]
]
print(tabulate(data))

Output:

-------  --  --------
Ahmed    28  Engineer
Fatima   32  Doctor
Hassan   24  Teacher
-------  --  --------

You can also create tables from a list of dictionaries.

from tabulate import tabulate
data = [
    {"Name": "Salma", "Age": 27, "Occupation": "Architect"},
    {"Name": "Kareem", "Age": 30, "Occupation": "Lawyer"},
    {"Name": "Nadia", "Age": 22, "Occupation": "Designer"}
]
print(tabulate(data, headers="keys"))

Output:

Name      Age  Occupation
-------  ----  -----------
Salma      27  Architect
Kareem     30  Lawyer
Nadia      22  Designer

Here, the headers="keys" argument tells tabulate to use the dictionary keys as headers.

 

Row Manipulation

Add rows to existing tables

You can add new rows to your table data.

from tabulate import tabulate
data = [
    ["Heba", "HR"],
    ["Ayman", "IT"]
]

# Adding a new row
data.append(["Nada", "Finance"])
print(tabulate(data, headers=["Name", "Department"]))

Output:

Name    Department
------  -----------
Heba    HR
Ayman   IT
Nada    Finance

After appending [“Nada”, “Finance”] to data, the new row appears in the table.

Insert rows at specific positions

You can insert a row at a specific index.

from tabulate import tabulate
data = [
    ["Samir", "Logistics"],
    ["Nour", "Operations"]
]

# Inserting a row at position 1
data.insert(1, ["Leila", "Procurement"])
print(tabulate(data, headers=["Name", "Department"]))

Output:

Name    Department
------  -----------
Samir   Logistics
Leila   Procurement
Nour    Operations

Leila’s data is inserted between Samir and Nour.

Remove rows

You can remove rows from your table.

from tabulate import tabulate
data = [
    ["Adel", "Sales"],
    ["Sara", "Customer Service"],
    ["Hadi", "Support"]
]

# Removing the second row
del data[1]
print(tabulate(data, headers=["Name", "Department"]))

Output:

Name    Department
------  -----------
Adel    Sales
Hadi    Support

After deleting the second row, Sara’s data is removed from the table.

 

Column Manipulation

Add columns to existing tables

You can add a new column to your table data.

from tabulate import tabulate
data = [
    ["Farah", "Engineering"],
    ["Youssef", "Design"]
]

# Adding a new column
for row in data:
    row.append("Active")
print(tabulate(data, headers=["Name", "Department", "Status"]))

Output:

Name      Department    Status
--------  ------------  --------
Farah     Engineering   Active
Youssef   Design        Active

By appending “Active” to each row, a new column “Status” is added.

Reorder columns

You can change the order of columns in your table.

from tabulate import tabulate
data = [
    ["Layla", 85, 90],
    ["Omar", 78, 88]
]

# Reordering columns
data_reordered = [[row[2], row[0], row[1]] for row in data]
print(tabulate(data_reordered, headers=["Science", "Name", "Math"]))

Output:

Science  Name    Math
-------  ------  -----
     90  Layla     85
     88  Omar      78

Columns are reordered to display “Science” scores first.

Hide specific columns

You can exclude columns from your table.

from tabulate import tabulate
data = [
    ["Karim", "Admin", "Full-time"],
    ["Hana", "HR", "Part-time"]
]

# Excluding the "Status" column
data_modified = [[row[0], row[1]] for row in data]
print(tabulate(data_modified, headers=["Name", "Department"]))

Output:

Name    Department
------  -----------
Karim   Admin
Hana    HR

By not including the “Status” data, the “Status” column is hidden.

 

Show Index

You can display row indices in your table.

from tabulate import tabulate
data = [
    ["Mohamed", "Manager"],
    ["Aya", "Supervisor"]
]
print(tabulate(data, headers=["Name", "Position"], showindex=True))

Output:

    Name     Position
--  -------  ----------
 0  Mohamed  Manager
 1  Aya      Supervisor

Include captions or footnotes

You can add a caption or footnote below your table.

from tabulate import tabulate
data = [
    ["Samia", "Paid"],
    ["Khaled", "Pending"]
]
table = tabulate(data, headers=["Customer", "Payment Status"], tablefmt="plain")
caption = "Note: Payment status as of September."

print(f"{table}\n\n{caption}")

Output:

Customer  Payment Status
Samia     Paid
Khaled    Pending

Note: Payment status as of September.

 

Nested Tabes

To create a nested table using the tabulate, you can structure your data as a list of lists, where each sublist represents a row in the table.

from tabulate import tabulate

# Sample data with a 4x4 inner table
data = [
  ["Mohamed", "Engineering", [
      ["Task 1", "Task 2", "Task 3", "Task 4"],
      ["Done", "In Progress", "Pending", "Done"],
      ["High", "Medium", "Low", "High"],
      ["2024-01-01", "2024-02-01", "2024-03-01", "2024-04-01"]
  ]],
  ["Ahmed", "Marketing", [
      ["Task A", "Task B", "Task C", "Task D"],
      ["Launched", "Planning", "Pending", "Launched"],
      ["Medium", "High", "Low", "Medium"],
      ["2024-01-15", "2024-02-15", "2024-03-15", "2024-04-15"]
  ]],
  ["Khaled", "HR", [
      ["Task X", "Task Y", "Task Z", "Task W"],
      ["Ongoing", "Scheduled", "Pending", "Completed"],
      ["Low", "Medium", "High", "Low"],
      ["2024-01-10", "2024-02-10", "2024-03-10", "2024-04-10"]
  ]]
]

# Function to format the 4x4 inner table with borders
def format_inner_table(inner_table):
  return tabulate(inner_table, tablefmt="grid")

# Prepare data for tabulation
formatted_data = [
  [name, department, format_inner_table(inner_table)]
  for name, department, inner_table in data
]

headers = ["Name", "Department", "Details"]
table = tabulate(formatted_data, headers=headers, tablefmt="grid")
print(table)

Output:

+---------+--------------+--------------------------------------------------------+
| Name    | Department   | Details                                                |
+=========+==============+========================================================+
| Mohamed | Engineering  | +------------+-------------+------------+------------+ |
|         |              | | Task 1     | Task 2      | Task 3     | Task 4     | |
|         |              | +------------+-------------+------------+------------+ |
|         |              | | Done       | In Progress | Pending    | Done       | |
|         |              | +------------+-------------+------------+------------+ |
|         |              | | High       | Medium      | Low        | High       | |
|         |              | +------------+-------------+------------+------------+ |
|         |              | | 2024-01-01 | 2024-02-01  | 2024-03-01 | 2024-04-01 | |
|         |              | +------------+-------------+------------+------------+ |
+---------+--------------+--------------------------------------------------------+
| Ahmed   | Marketing    | +------------+------------+------------+------------+  |
|         |              | | Task A     | Task B     | Task C     | Task D     |  |
|         |              | +------------+------------+------------+------------+  |
|         |              | | Launched   | Planning   | Pending    | Launched   |  |
|         |              | +------------+------------+------------+------------+  |
|         |              | | Medium     | High       | Low        | Medium     |  |
|         |              | +------------+------------+------------+------------+  |
|         |              | | 2024-01-15 | 2024-02-15 | 2024-03-15 | 2024-04-15 |  |
|         |              | +------------+------------+------------+------------+  |
+---------+--------------+--------------------------------------------------------+
| Khaled  | HR           | +------------+------------+------------+------------+  |
|         |              | | Task X     | Task Y     | Task Z     | Task W     |  |
|         |              | +------------+------------+------------+------------+  |
|         |              | | Ongoing    | Scheduled  | Pending    | Completed  |  |
|         |              | +------------+------------+------------+------------+  |
|         |              | | Low        | Medium     | High       | Low        |  |
|         |              | +------------+------------+------------+------------+  |
|         |              | | 2024-01-10 | 2024-02-10 | 2024-03-10 | 2024-04-10 |  |
|         |              | +------------+------------+------------+------------+  |
+---------+--------------+--------------------------------------------------------+