Printing Lists as Tabular Data

python

dataframe

pandas

pretty-printing

byAnton Shumikhin·Sep 12, 2024

For a rapid table formation in Python, utilize tabulate. Install it with pip install tabulate, then implement:

from tabulate import tabulate
# Note #[1]: We are passing lists of data rows, not tuples of musical bands 
print(tabulate([["Alice", 30, "Engineer"], ["Bob", 22, "Artist"]], headers=["Name", "Age", "Profession"], tablefmt="grid"))

Observe the output:

+-------+-----+------------+
| Name  | Age | Profession |
+-------+-----+------------+
| Alice |  30 | Engineer   | # Alice punching numbers in Excel
| Bob   |  22 | Artist     | # Bob still figuring out shapes and colors
+-------+-----+------------+

Tabulate is effective at transforming complex data into human-readable tables. It's as straightforward as SQL but without the cryptic queries.

Advanced examples for real Pythonistas

String format for the bravest

Let's utilize Python's Format Specification Mini-Language:

labels = ["first_name", "last_name", "major"]
data = [["Alan", "Turing", "Computer Science"], ["Ada", "Lovelace", "Mathematics"]]

row_format = "{:<15}" * (len(labels)) # Turing is not turning in his grave, he appreciates it
for row in data:
    print(row_format.format(*row))

Allow yourself the joy of manually crafting your perfect table.

Dressed to impress: PrettyTable

PrettyTable enters the scene when you seek more control over sortable data and post-factum style changes:

from prettytable import PrettyTable
x = PrettyTable(["City name", "Area", "Population", "Annual Rainfall"])
x.add_row(["Adelaide", 1295, 1158259, 600.5])
x.add_row(["Brisbane", 5905, 1857594, 1146.4])
x.sortby = "Population"
print(x)

Who would have guessed that data tables could compete with fashion shows?

Pandas DataFrame for data science aficionados

Any representation of tabular data would be incomplete without Pandas DataFrame:

import pandas as pd
df = pd.DataFrame(data, columns=['Name', 'Age', 'Profession'])
print(df)

This makes you wonder if Pandas are the national animal of Data Science.

Decorate your data with style

Pretty-printing with texttable

import texttable as tt
tab = tt.Texttable()
headings = ['Name','Age','Profession']
tab.header(headings)
rows = [['Alice', 30, 'Engineer'], ['Bob', 22, 'Artist']]
for row in rows:
    tab.add_row(row)
tab.set_cols_align(['c', 'c', 'c'])
print(tab.draw())

Just remember that programmers have a different understanding of "center".

Taming terminaltables and termtables

import terminaltables
data = [['Name', 'Age', 'Profession'], ['Alice', 30, 'Engineer'], ['Bob', 22, 'Artist']]
table = terminaltables.AsciiTable(data)
print(table.table)