---
id: columnar
version: "1.4.1"
license: unclear
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: abandoned
---

# columnar — A tool for printing data in a columnar format.

License: permissive · Maintenance: abandoned · Downloads: 1.6M/mo

## What it is and what it does

Columnar is a terminal table formatter that takes raw data (lists of lists) and produces aligned, bordered text output suitable for printing to the console. It handles column headers, text wrapping, wide characters (emojis, CJK text), and ANSI color codes. The library depends on toolz and wcwidth for utility functions and character width calculation.

You provide data, optional headers, and configuration like column selection, dropping empty columns, and pattern-based text transformation (for colorization or formatting). Columnar then sizes columns to fit the terminal width, wraps text as needed, and renders the table. It's designed for CLI tools, log output, and data inspection tasks where human-readable tabular display matters.

Use it for:

- Display structured data in CLI tools with aligned columns and borders for readability.
- Format query results or data exports for terminal inspection with automatic column sizing.
- Apply regex-based patterns to colorize or format cell contents for visual emphasis.
- Filter and select specific columns from wide datasets using regex matching.
- Render tables with emoji and multi-byte characters while preserving alignment.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Columnar formats tabular data into aligned, bordered text output for terminal display, with support for patterns, column selection, text wrapping, and wide characters.

Yes, if you need simple terminal table formatting and can accept an abandoned package. The library is stable, has no known vulnerabilities, and low install friction. However, do not rely on it for active bug fixes or Python version updates—if you need ongoing maintenance or support for newer Python versions, consider alternatives that are actively maintained.

## Install

pip install columnar
uv add columnar
poetry add columnar

## Installing columnar

Before you install: Low friction to install. The package is abandoned (last release 2021-12-27, 1691 days ago) with no active maintenance, so expect no bug fixes or updates.

License in practice: Licensed under MIT (permissive), so you can use, modify, and distribute freely with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install columnar

from columnar import columnar

data = [['Name', 'Value'], ['Example', 'Data']]
headers = ['Column1', 'Column2']
table = columnar(data, headers)
print(table)

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package handles very large datasets efficiently or has known performance limitations.
- Current state of compatibility with Python versions beyond 3.7, given the classifier lists only 3.7.
- Performance characteristics when working with datasets containing many rows or columns.

## Package facts

- License: not declared (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: abandoned
- Downloads: 1.6M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

terminal table formatting, columnar text output, aligned data display, table printing library, text table generator, terminal data formatting, column alignment, terminal-ui, data-formatting

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/columnar) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/columnar/)