tabling 1.1.1

Tabling is a Python library for creating highly customizable tables in the console.

Tabling

Tabling is a Python library for creating highly customizable tables in the console.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Features
• Installation
• Usage
• FAQ
• Templates
• UI Design
• Conclusion

Introduction

Tabling was inspired by HTML and CSS. It is row-centric, like in HTML tables, but supports direct column operations. It can be used not only for tabular data, but also for designing structured console-based user interfaces (similar to how HTML tables were once used before the rise of CSS Grid and Flexbox).

The potential use cases are virtually limitless: it all depends on your creativity. Tabling doesn't restrict creativity: it empowers it.

Following the KISS principle, Tabling is designed to be simple and efficient, yet flexible enough to achieve complex styling and layouts.

Features

• Add/remove components: rows, columns, cells
• Sort rows/columns based on column/row key
• Find/replace values with new ones
• Import/export table to json, csv, and more
• Customize element properties: background, border, font, margin, padding
• Customize text properties: alignment, justification, wrap, direction, visibility
• CSS-like syntax e.g., border.style for CSS border-style
• Unlimited colors: 140+ color names, all RGB values, all HEX codes
• 5 border styles: single, double, dashed, dotted, solid
• 6 font styles: bold, italic, strikethrough, underline, overline, double-underline

Installation

pip install tabling

Usage

1. Import library

from tabling import Table

2. Create table

table = Table(colspacing=1, rowspacing=0)

3. Perform operations

The table below shows available Tabling table operations:

Method	Description
add_row(entries: Iterable)	Adds a row
add_column(entries: Iterable)	Adds a column
insert_row(index: int, entries: Iterable)	Inserts a row at an index
insert_column(index: int, entries: Iterable)	Inserts a column at an index
remove_row(index: int)	Removes the row at an index
remove_column(index: int)	Removes the column at an index
swap_rows(index1: int, index2: int)	Swaps positions of two rows
swap_columns(index1: int, index2: int)	Swaps positions of two columns
sort_rows(key: int, start=0, reverse=False)	Sorts rows by a key column
sort_columns(key: int, start=0, reverse=False)	Sorts columns by a key row
find(value: Any)	Prints a table, highlighting matches
replace(value: Any, repl: Any)	Replaces a value with a new one
clear()	Removes all table elements
export_csv(filepath: str)	Exports rows to csv file
import_csv(filepath: str)	Imports rows from csv file
export_json(filepath: str, key=None, as_objects=True)	Exports rows to json file
import_json(filepath: str, key=None)	Imports rows from json file
export_txt(filepath: str)	Exports plain table to txt file

Example

table.add_row(("Name", "Age", "Sex"))
table.add_row(("Wesley", 20, "M"))
table.add_row(("Ashley", 12, "F"))
table.add_row(("Lesley", 12, "M"))
table.add_column(("Married", True, False, False))

4. Customize

Elements are customized through their properties. In order to be customized, an element must first be selected or referenced. The table below shows how to select elements:

Element	Method
table	table
row	table[row_index]
cell	table[row_index][column_index]
rows	for row in table:
cells	for row in table: for cell in row:
column	for row in table: row[column_index]

Each element has 5 main properties:

• background: Background of an element
• border: Border around an element
• font: Appearance of text in an element
• margin: Outer spacing of an element
• padding: Inner spacing of an element

Cells have 3 additional properties:

• text: Appearance of cell values/entries
• width: Characters allowed, horizontally
• height: Lines characters allowed, vertically

The table below shows customizable property attributes for elements:

Property Attribute	Description	Example values
background.color	Background color	"red", "255,0,0", "#ff0000", "#f00"
border.style	Border style	"single", "double", "dashed", "solid"
border.color	Border color	"red", "255,0,0", "#ff0000", "#f00"
border.left.style	Border-left style	"single", "double", "dashed", "solid"
border.left.color	Border-left color	"red", "255,0,0", "#ff0000", "#f00"
border.right.style	Border-left style	"single", "double", "dashed", "solid"
border.right.color	Border-right color	"red", "255,0,0", "#ff0000", "#f00"
border.top.style	Border-top style	"single", "double", "dashed", "solid"
border.top.color	Border-top color	"red", "255,0,0", "#ff0000", "#f00"
border.bottom.style	Border-bottom style	"single", "double", "dashed", "solid"
border.bottom.color	Border-bottom color	"red", "255,0,0", "#ff0000", "#f00"
font.style	Font style	"bold", "italic", "strikethrough"
font.color	Font color	"red", "255,0,0", "#ff0000", "#f00"
margin.left	Margin to the left	0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, ...
margin.right	Margin to the right	0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, ...
margin.top	Margin to the top	0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, ...
margin.bottom	Margin to the bottom	0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, ...
padding.left	Padding to the left	0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, ...
padding.right	Padding to the right	0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, ...
padding.top	Padding to the top	0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, ...
padding.bottom	Padding to the bottom	0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, ...
text.justify	Direction to justify text	"left", "center", "right"
text.align	Edge to valign text	"top", "center", "bottom"
text.wrap	Whether to wrap text	True, False
text.visible	Whether to show text	True, False
text.reverse	Whether to reverse text	True, False
text.letter_spacing	Spacing between letters	0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, ...
text.word_spacing	Spacing between words	0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, ...

Example

table.border.style = "single"
table[0].font.style = "bold"
table[0].border.bottom.style = "single"
for row in table:
    row[1].text.justify = "center"
    row[2].text.justify = "center"

Note: To save time and effort, you can copy & paste code for commonly used table styles from the templates section.

5. Display

print(table)

FAQ

1. What is the format for RGB and HEXcolors?
   Use rrr,ggg,bbb for RGB and #rrggbb or #rgb for HEX.

2. How can I change a cell value?
   Use table[row_index][column_index].value = new_value

3. How do I set a column width?
   Set the cell.width of any cell within the column to the desired column width.

4. How do I set a row height?
   Set the cell.height of any cell within the row to the desired row height.

5. Why are colors not displaying as expected?
   Use your OS's native terminal instead of an IDE terminal.

6. How to make table.sort_rows exclude the first row?
   Use argument start=1 to exclude first and stop=-1 to exclude last.

7. Why is my table/row font color not working? Font color is rendered based on specificity. Cells have the highest specificity followed by rows, followed by the table. This means that table font color is only displayed on a row that has no font color itself. Similarily, row font color is only displayed in cells, within the row, that have no font color themselves.

8. How to fix row lines leaking to next line for small terminal window?
   Resize, and/or zoom out, the terminal window to fit the rows. Alternatively, use table.export_txt(filepath) to export your table to TXT format and then use a GUI text edito to view your table. NB: TXT exporting does not export table styles such as font and background properties.

9. Why do borders overlap when I use emojis?
   Emojis, such as smileys, consists of two parts: structure and color. Python takes these emojis as having a length of 1, but most terminals take them as having a length of 2. Thus, terminals use two spaces to render the emoji while Python had reserved only one. Thus the overlaps.

10. How do I make Tabling even faster when rendering the table?
    Set the flag table.preserve = False. Note that turning off preservation means that normalization of elements is to be done on the actual elements and not copies like with table.preserve = True. This may cause problems if you want to reprint the table later with new cell values and cusomizations. Only set table.preserve = False when you want to print the table once and nothing more!

Templates

These are pre-written code blocks used to quickly, and effectively, customize a table with a commonly used table styles.

1. Plain
   

   # No customization
   

2. Simple
   

   table.border.style = "single"
   

3. Headed
   

   # Configuration
   BORDER_STYLE = "single"
   
   # Customization
   table.border.style = BORDER_STYLE
   table[0].border.bottom.style = BORDER_STYLE
   

4. Headed & Footed
   

   # Configuration
   BORDER_STYLE = "single"
   
   # Customization
   table.border.style = BORDER_STYLE
   table[0].border.bottom.style = BORDER_STYLE
   table[-1].border.top.style = BORDER_STYLE
   

5. Grid
   

   # Configuration
   BORDER_STYLE = "single"
   COLUMN_SPACING = 0
   
   # Customization
   table.colspacing = COLUMN_SPACING
   for row in table:
       for cell in row:
           cell.border.style = BORDER_STYLE
   

6. Grid-collapsed
   

   # Configuration
   BORDER_STYLE = "single"
   COLUMN_SPACING = 0
   
   # Customization
   table.colspacing = COLUMN_SPACING
   for row in table:
       for cell in row:
           cell.border.left.style = BORDER_STYLE
           cell.border.top.style = BORDER_STYLE
       row[-1].border.right.style = BORDER_STYLE
   for cell in table[-1]:
       cell.border.bottom.style = BORDER_STYLE
   

7. Staked
   

   for row in table:
       row.border.style = "single"
   

8. Stacked-collapsed
   

   # Configuration
   BORDER_STYLE = "single"
   ROW_SPACING = 1
   
   # Customization
   table.rowspacing = 0  # !important
   for row in table:
       row.border.style = BORDER_STYLE
       row.border.top.style = None
       row.padding.block = ROW_SPACING // 2, ROW_SPACING - (ROW_SPACING // 2)
   table[0].border.top.style = BORDER_STYLE
   

9. Queued
   

   # Configuration
   BORDER_STYLE = "single"
   ROW_SPACING = 0
   COLUMN_SPACING = 0
   
   # Customization
   table.rowspacing = 0  # !important
   table.colspacing = COLUMN_SPACING
   for cell in table[0]:
       cell.border.top.style = BORDER_STYLE
   for row in table:
       for cell in row:
           cell.border.left.style = BORDER_STYLE
           cell.border.right.style = BORDER_STYLE
       row[0].padding.block = ROW_SPACING // 2, ROW_SPACING - (ROW_SPACING // 2)
   for cell in table[-1]:
       cell.border.bottom.style = BORDER_STYLE
   

10. Queued-collapsed
    

    # Configuration
    BORDER_STYLE = "single"
    ROW_SPACING = 0
    COLUMN_SPACING = 0
    
    # Customization
    table.rowspacing = 0  # !important
    table.colspacing = COLUMN_SPACING
    for cell in table[0]:
        cell.border.top.style = BORDER_STYLE
    for row in table:
        for cell in row:
            cell.border.left.style = BORDER_STYLE
            cell.border.right.style = BORDER_STYLE
        row[0].padding.block = ROW_SPACING // 2, ROW_SPACING - (ROW_SPACING // 2)
    for cell in table[-1]:
        cell.border.bottom.style = BORDER_STYLE
    

11. Checkered
    

    # Configuration
    BORDER_STYLE = None
    PADDING_INLINE = 1
    PADDING_BLOCK = 1
    ALT_BG_COLOR = "#999"
    
    # Customization
    table.rowspacing = 0  # !important
    table.colspacing = 0  # !important
    for row in table:
        for cell in row:
            cell.border.style = BORDER_STYLE
            cell.padding.inline = PADDING_INLINE, PADDING_INLINE
            cell.padding.block = PADDING_BLOCK, PADDING_BLOCK
        for row in table[0::2]:
            for cell in row[0::2]:
                cell.background.color = ALT_BG_COLOR
        for row in table[1::2]:
            for cell in row[1::2]:
                cell.background.color = ALT_BG_COLOR
    

UI Design

Like HTML, Tabling enables you to create structured, grid-based user interfaces (UIs) using tables. The kinds of interfaces you can design depend entirely on your creativity and your ability to break complex layouts into table-like components. In short, the sky’s the limit!

This section showcases real-world examples and source code demonstrating how Tabling can be used to build console-based UIs and structured layouts.

1. Menu
   

   from tabling import Table
   
   question = "What's your favorite programming language?"
   choices = ("Python", "C", "C++", "Javascript")
   options = (f"{i}." for i in range(1, len(choices) + 1))
   
   menu = Table(colspacing=1, rowspacing=0)
   menu.add_column(options)
   menu.add_column(choices)
   menu.padding.left = 2
   
   print(question)
   print(menu)
   
   option = int(input("> "))
   print(f"You chose: {menu[option-1][1]}")
   

2. Barcode
   

   from tabling import Table
   
   barcode = Table(colspacing=1, rowspacing=0)
   barcode.add_row("")
   barcode.add_row((6, "", 0, 0, 1, 0, 8, 7, ""))
   barcode[0][0].height = 10
   barcode[0][1].border.right.style = "double"
   barcode[1][1].border.right.style = "double"
   barcode[0][2].border.left.style = "solid"
   barcode[0][3].border.left.style = "single"
   barcode[0][4].border.left.style = "solid"
   barcode[0][5].border.left.style = "single"
   barcode[0][6].border.left.style = "solid"
   barcode[0][7].border.left.style = "solid"
   barcode[0][8].border.left.style = "double"
   barcode[1][8].border.left.style = "double"
   
   print(barcode)
   

3. Calendar
   

   from tabling import Table
   
   calendar = Table(colspacing=0, rowspacing=0)
   
   calendar.add_row(("Sunday", "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday"))
   calendar.add_row(("", "", "", "", 1, 2, 3))
   calendar.add_row((4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10))
   calendar.add_row((11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17))
   calendar.add_row((18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24))
   calendar.add_row((25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31))
   
   calendar[0].font.style = "bold"
   for row in calendar:
       for cell in row:
           cell.width = 3
           cell.height = 2
           cell.border.left.style = "single"
           cell.border.top.style = "single"
       row[-1].border.right.style = "single"
   for cell in calendar[-1]:
       cell.border.bottom.style = "single"
   for cell in calendar[0]:
       cell.height = 1
       cell.text.justify = "center"
   
   print(" May 2025")
   print(calendar)
   

4. Flag
   

   from tabling import Table
   
   flag = Table(colspacing=0, rowspacing=0)
   for _ in range(3):
       flag.add_column(" ")
   for cell in flag[0]:
       cell.height = 10
       cell.width = 10
   flag[0][0].background.color = "blue"
   flag[0][1].background.color = "white"
   flag[0][2].background.color = "red"
   
   print(flag)
   

5. Bar Graph
   

   from tabling import Table
   
   graph = Table(colspacing=4)
   graph.add_column((12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2))
   for _ in range(4):
       graph.add_column(("", "", "", "", "", ""))
   
   for column_index in range(1, 5):
       graph[0][column_index].width = 6
   
   graph.margin.top = 1
   graph[0][-1].margin.right = 3
   graph[-1].border.bottom.style = "single"
   for row_index, row in enumerate(graph):
       row[0].border.right.style = "single"
       row[0].height = 3
       if row_index > 2:
           row[1].background.color = "tomato"
       if row_index > 3:
           row[2].background.color = "crimson"
       if row_index > 0:
           row[3].background.color = "maroon"
       if row_index > 1:
           row[4].background.color = "brown"
   
   graph.add_row(("", "A","B", "C", "D"))
   for cell in graph[-1]:
       cell.text.justify = "center"
   
   print(graph)
   

6. Form
   

   from tabling import Table
   
   form = Table(colspacing=2, rowspacing=0)
   form.add_row(("First Name", "Enter your first name"))
   form.add_row(("Last Name", "Enter your last name"))
   form.add_row(("Gender", "○ Male ○ Female"))
   form.add_row(("Email", "Enter your email"))
   form.add_row(("Phone Number", "Enter your phone number"))
   form.add_row(("Username", "Enter your username"))
   form.add_row(("Password", "Enter your password"))
   form.add_row(("Confirm Password", "Confirm your password"))
   
   form.border.style = "single"
   form.padding.inline = 1, 1
   for row in form:
       row[1].width = 25
       row[1].font.color = "#999"
       row[1].font.style = "italic"
       row[1].border.style = "single"
       row[1].padding.inline = 1, 1
   form[2][1].border.style = None
   form[2][1].padding.block = 1, 1
   
   form.add_row(("", "Register"))
   # form[-1][1].text.justify = "right"
   form[-1].border.style = "single"
   form[-1].background.color = "lightgray"
   form[-1].margin.top = 1
   form[-1].font.style = "bold"
   form[-1].padding.block = 1, 1
   
   print(form)
   

7. Navigation Bar
   

   from tabling import Table
   
   navbar = Table(colspacing=0, rowspacing=0)
   
   navbar.add_row(("⌂", "Home"))
   navbar.add_row(("⟟", "Search"))
   navbar.add_row(("✩", "Favorites"))
   navbar.add_row(("☺", "Account"))
   navbar.add_row(("⚙", "Settings"))
   navbar.add_column(("", "", "Some account stuff", "", ""))
   
   navbar.border.style = "single"
   navbar.padding.inline = 1, 1
   for cell in navbar[0][2:]:
       cell.border.top.style = "single"
   for cell in navbar[-1][2:]:
       cell.border.bottom.style = "single"
   for row in navbar:
       for cell in row:
           cell.padding.left = 1
       row[2].border.left.style = "single"
       row[2].border.right.style = "single"
       row[2].width = 25
       row[2].padding.block = 1, 1
       row[2].text.justify = "center"
   navbar[3][0].background.color = "gray"
   navbar[3][1].background.color = "gray"
   navbar[3][1].font.style = "bold"
   
   print(navbar)
   

8. Phone
   

   from tabling import Table
   
   SCREEN_HEIGHT = 12
   
   phone = Table(colspacing=1, rowspacing=0)
   phone.border.style = "single"
   for _ in range(SCREEN_HEIGHT):
       phone.add_row(("","",""))
   phone.add_row(("...", "", "..."))
   phone.add_row(("", "▢", ""))
   phone.add_row(("╭─╮", "", "╭─╮"))
   phone.add_row(("1∞", "2abc", "3def"))
   phone.add_row(("4ghi", "5jkl", "6mno"))
   phone.add_row(("7pqrs", "8tuv", "9wxyz"))
   phone.add_row(("*^+", "0 ␣", "#⍽⇧"))
   
   phone.padding.inline = 1, 1
   # Screen
   phone[0].border.top.style = "single"
   for row in phone[:SCREEN_HEIGHT]:
       row.border.left.style = "single"
       row.border.right.style = "single"
   phone[SCREEN_HEIGHT-1].border.bottom.style = "single"
   
   # Buttons
   home_btn = phone[SCREEN_HEIGHT + 1][1]
   home_btn.border.style = "single"
   home_btn.text.justify = "center"
   home_btn.width = 5
   
   for row in phone[SCREEN_HEIGHT + 3:]:
       row.margin.top = 1
   
   print(phone)
   

9. Calculator
   

   from tabling import Table
   
   SCREEN_HEIGHT = 10
   
   calculator = Table(colspacing=1, rowspacing=0)
   calculator.border.style = "solid"
   for _ in range(SCREEN_HEIGHT):
       calculator.add_row(("", "", "", "", ""))
   calculator.add_row(("Menu", "⯇", "⏵", "⨯", "AC"))
   calculator.add_row(("DEG", "sin", "cos", "tan", "π"))
   calculator.add_row(("Shift", "√x", "ⁿ√x", "(", ")"))
   calculator.add_row(("%", "x²", "xⁿ", "□∕□", "÷"))
   calculator.add_row(("log", 7, 8, 9, "×"))
   calculator.add_row(("ln", 4, 5, 6, "−"))
   calculator.add_row(("e", 1, 2, 3, "+"))
   calculator.add_row(("□", "Ans", 0, ".", "="))
   
   calculator[0].border.top.style = "single"
   for row in calculator[:SCREEN_HEIGHT]:
       row.border.left.style = "single"
       row.border.right.style = "single"
   calculator[SCREEN_HEIGHT - 1].border.bottom.style = "single"
   
   for row in calculator[SCREEN_HEIGHT:]:
       for cell in row: 
           cell.width = 5
           cell.text.justify = "center"
           cell.border.style = "single"
   
   print(calculator)
   

10. Chess Board
    

    from tabling import Table
    
    chess_board = Table(colspacing=0, rowspacing=0)
    
    for _ in range(8):
        chess_board.add_row(("",)*8)
    
    chess_board.font.style = "bold"
    chess_board.background.color = "burlywood"
    for row in chess_board:
        for cell in row:
            cell.padding.block = 1, 1
            cell.padding.inline = 2, 2
    for row in chess_board[0::2]:
        for cell in row[0::2]:
            cell.background.color = "#333"
    for row in chess_board[1::2]:
        for cell in row[1::2]:
            cell.background.color = "#333"
    chess_board.insert_column(0, range(8, 0, -1))
    chess_board.add_column(range(8, 0, -1))
    chess_board.add_row(" ABCDEFGH")
    chess_board.insert_row(0, " ABCDEFGH")
    
    print(chess_board)
    

Conclusion

Tabling transforms the way you think about console output. What begins as simple table rendering evolves into a powerful system for building structured, styled, and responsive interfaces—right in the terminal.

Whether you're formatting data, sketching UI prototypes, or building full-fledged console applications, Tabling gives you the building blocks to do it with precision and style. You get the control of CSS, the structure of HTML, and the flexibility of Python—all in one elegant toolkit.

This isn't just about tables. It's about rethinking what's possible in plain text environments.

So go ahead—build tables, draw dashboards, design forms, simulate components. Create what you imagine. Directly in your terminal.

Remember: “Tabling is a powerful tool not because of what it does, but because of what it enables you to do.” — Haripo Wesley T.