Printable

CLI and functions help for printing tabular data.

Install

pip3 install printable

Rendering Engines

Two engines render tables: python (pure Python) and column (a ctypes binding of the compiled util-linux column command). By default (auto), the column engine is used when no --grid is set, and falls back to the python engine if the shared library is missing; grid styles always use the python engine. Select explicitly with -e python|column|auto.

Width calculation uses the native library when available and falls back to pure Python otherwise. 5000×6 mixed zh-en rows (make bench):

engine	width calc	median (ms)	speedup (vs original)	speedup (vs now)
python (original)	pure Python	322	1.0x
python (now)	pure Python	75	4.3x	1.0x
python + C width	native C	27	11.9x	2.8x
column	native C	17	18.9x	4.4x

The original row is the pre-optimization implementation (git a5ce114): per-cell wcswidth, per-character control normalization, and duplicated row formatting. Optimizations: batched width calculation via the native library, flattened single-call batch, and regex-based normalization.

Usage Example

from printable import readable

print(readable(list_of_dict, grid='full'))

$ printable -t csv -f samples/sample.csv
 symbol     desp      last    change   changeper  turnover  changesign  lastupdate
 HSI        恆指      26623   -468     1.73%      802億     -           2018/10/04 16:09
 HSCEI      國指      10547   -239     2.21%      257億     -           2018/10/04 16:08
 000001.SH  上證指數  2821    29       1.06%      1254億    +           2018/09/28 15:10
 000300.SH  滬深 300  3438    35       1.04%      949億     +           2018/09/28 15:10
 USDHKD     港匯      7.8337  -0.0037  -0.0472%             -

$ printable -t csv -f samples/sample.csv --grid inner
 symbol    │ desp     │ last   │ change  │ changeper │ turnover │ changesign │ lastupdate
───────────┼──────────┼────────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────────┼──────────────────
 HSI       │ 恆指     │ 26623  │ -468    │ 1.73%     │ 802億    │ -          │ 2018/10/04 16:09
───────────┼──────────┼────────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────────┼──────────────────
 HSCEI     │ 國指     │ 10547  │ -239    │ 2.21%     │ 257億    │ -          │ 2018/10/04 16:08
───────────┼──────────┼────────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────────┼──────────────────
 000001.SH │ 上證指數 │ 2821   │ 29      │ 1.06%     │ 1254億   │ +          │ 2018/09/28 15:10
───────────┼──────────┼────────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────────┼──────────────────
 000300.SH │ 滬深 300 │ 3438   │ 35      │ 1.04%     │ 949億    │ +          │ 2018/09/28 15:10
───────────┼──────────┼────────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────────┼──────────────────
 USDHKD    │ 港匯     │ 7.8337 │ -0.0037 │ -0.0472%  │          │ -          │

$ printable -t csv -f samples/sample.csv --grid full
┌───────────┬──────────┬────────┬─────────┬───────────┬──────────┬────────────┬──────────────────┐
│ symbol    │ desp     │ last   │ change  │ changeper │ turnover │ changesign │ lastupdate       │
├───────────┼──────────┼────────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────────┼──────────────────┤
│ HSI       │ 恆指     │ 26623  │ -468    │ 1.73%     │ 802億    │ -          │ 2018/10/04 16:09 │
├───────────┼──────────┼────────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────────┼──────────────────┤
│ HSCEI     │ 國指     │ 10547  │ -239    │ 2.21%     │ 257億    │ -          │ 2018/10/04 16:08 │
├───────────┼──────────┼────────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────────┼──────────────────┤
│ 000001.SH │ 上證指數 │ 2821   │ 29      │ 1.06%     │ 1254億   │ +          │ 2018/09/28 15:10 │
├───────────┼──────────┼────────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────────┼──────────────────┤
│ 000300.SH │ 滬深 300 │ 3438   │ 35      │ 1.04%     │ 949億    │ +          │ 2018/09/28 15:10 │
├───────────┼──────────┼────────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────────┼──────────────────┤
│ USDHKD    │ 港匯     │ 7.8337 │ -0.0037 │ -0.0472%  │          │ -          │                  │
└───────────┴──────────┴────────┴─────────┴───────────┴──────────┴────────────┴──────────────────┘

$ printable -t csv -f samples/sample.csv --grid markdown
| symbol    | desp     | last   | change  | changeper | turnover | changesign | lastupdate       |
|-----------|----------|--------|---------|-----------|----------|------------|------------------|
| HSI       | 恆指     | 26623  | -468    | 1.73%     | 802億    | -          | 2018/10/04 16:09 |
| HSCEI     | 國指     | 10547  | -239    | 2.21%     | 257億    | -          | 2018/10/04 16:08 |
| 000001.SH | 上證指數 | 2821   | 29      | 1.06%     | 1254億   | +          | 2018/09/28 15:10 |
| 000300.SH | 滬深 300 | 3438   | 35      | 1.04%     | 949億    | +          | 2018/09/28 15:10 |
| USDHKD    | 港匯     | 7.8337 | -0.0037 | -0.0472%  |          | -          |                  |

Download files

Download the file for your platform. If you're not sure which to choose, learn more about installing packages.

Source Distribution

printable-0.4.4.tar.gz (429.9 kB view details)

Uploaded Aug 18, 2026 Source

Built Distribution

If you're not sure about the file name format, learn more about wheel file names.

The dropdown lists show the available interpreters, ABIs, and platforms. Enable javascript to be able to filter the list of wheel files.

printable-0.4.4-py3-none-any.whl (427.4 kB view details)

Uploaded Aug 18, 2026 Python 3

File details

Details for the file printable-0.4.4.tar.gz.

File metadata

Download URL: printable-0.4.4.tar.gz
Upload date: Aug 18, 2026
Size: 429.9 kB
Tags: Source
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? No
Uploaded via: uv/0.11.32 {"installer":{"name":"uv","version":"0.11.32","subcommand":["publish"]},"python":null,"implementation":{"name":null,"version":null},"distro":{"name":"macOS","version":null,"id":null,"libc":null},"system":{"name":null,"release":null},"cpu":null,"openssl_version":null,"setuptools_version":null,"rustc_version":null,"ci":null}

File hashes

Hashes for printable-0.4.4.tar.gz
Algorithm	Hash digest
SHA256	`edd3b8a38753e6d807f26db892d8186782088998b87bb7031f7760319c7002be`
MD5	`8d7ec3f978199bc23e7a816bec07d1e4`
BLAKE2b-256	`2f4b30260f69265d0861206b06a7324b7388516f8f0adf476a7b3bd3b7f34af8`

See more details on using hashes here.

File details

Details for the file printable-0.4.4-py3-none-any.whl.

File metadata

Download URL: printable-0.4.4-py3-none-any.whl
Upload date: Aug 18, 2026
Size: 427.4 kB
Tags: Python 3
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? No
Uploaded via: uv/0.11.32 {"installer":{"name":"uv","version":"0.11.32","subcommand":["publish"]},"python":null,"implementation":{"name":null,"version":null},"distro":{"name":"macOS","version":null,"id":null,"libc":null},"system":{"name":null,"release":null},"cpu":null,"openssl_version":null,"setuptools_version":null,"rustc_version":null,"ci":null}

File hashes

Hashes for printable-0.4.4-py3-none-any.whl
Algorithm	Hash digest
SHA256	`5027d132b8e831fd2d74c5cfe6f7a15555de81037d85fe7a498cc6c7f949879f`
MD5	`0b61a6bfebd63bbf3ecb3198ff82a9fa`
BLAKE2b-256	`7007fc0970fe8a62963aa2a0af0a698b8504e00fb559329f36d662022ac67a89`