Simple ASCII Tables

1.0.1 · active · verified Tue Apr 14

A simple, minimal, and dependency-free Python package for generating ASCII tables. It is a simplified fork of the unmaintained `terminaltables` library, focusing on basic usage without the complexity or external dependencies of other table formatting solutions. The current version is 1.0.1, released on January 23, 2025.

Warnings

gotcha This library is a simplified fork of `terminaltables` and aims for minimalism. It may not support all advanced features found in `terminaltables` (e.g., different border styles like single or double lines using Unicode box-drawing characters, which were available in `SingleTable` or `DoubleTable` in the original library).
Fix: Review the source code or experiment to confirm feature availability if migrating from `terminaltables` or requiring specific advanced formatting.
gotcha As a purely ASCII-based table generator, `simple-ascii-tables` may have limited or no robust support for wide Unicode characters (e.g., emojis, CJK characters) or ANSI escape codes for coloring. Such characters often have a display width greater than one, which can cause misalignments in fixed-width ASCII tables.
Fix: For tables requiring rich text, colors, or accurate rendering of wide Unicode characters, consider libraries like `Rich` or `prettytable` which are designed for more advanced terminal output. Test thoroughly with diverse character sets if using this library for non-basic ASCII content.
gotcha The library is designed to be dependency-free. While beneficial for light-weight applications, this means it explicitly does not include features often found in larger table-generation libraries, such as automatic data type handling, sorting, HTML/JSON output, or complex cell styling. Data should be pre-formatted as strings.
Fix: Pre-process data into lists of strings before passing to `AsciiTable`. If advanced data manipulation, formatting, or export options are needed, consider a more feature-rich library.

Install

pip install simple-ascii-tables Install with pip

Imports

AsciiTable

from simple_ascii_tables import AsciiTable

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to create a basic ASCII table using `AsciiTable`. Provide your data as a list of lists of strings. The outer list represents the table, and each inner list represents a row. The first inner list typically serves as the header. You can optionally set a title and customize various border elements.

from simple_ascii_tables import AsciiTable

table_data = [
    ['Heading 1', 'Heading 2', 'Heading 3'],
    ['Row 1, Col 1', 'Row 1, Col 2', 'Row 1, Col 3'],
    ['Row 2, Col 1', 'Row 2, Col 2', 'Row 2, Col 3 that is very long and wraps'],
    ['Short', 'Medium Text', 'Longer Text Here']
]

table = AsciiTable(table_data)
# Optional: Set a title
table.title = "My Simple Table"

# Optional: Customize borders (inherits from terminaltables)
# table.inner_column_border = False
# table.outer_border = False

print(table.table)

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