terminaltables

What it is and what it does

terminaltables renders formatted ASCII tables directly to terminal output from Python data structures. It takes a nested list of strings (rows and columns) and automatically handles column width calculation and alignment, producing clean ASCII-bordered tables suitable for CLI applications and scripts.

The package has no runtime dependencies and works across Python 2.6+ and 3.3+ on Linux, macOS, and Windows. It supports multi-line cell content, making it useful for displaying structured data in command-line tools, monitoring dashboards, and report generation scripts. The library is mature and stable but has not seen active development since late 2021.

Use it for:

• Display query results or database records in CLI tools with automatic column alignment
• Format structured data (CSV, logs, metrics) for human-readable terminal output
• Build monitoring dashboards or status reports that run in terminal environments
• Generate formatted output for shell scripts and automation tools that need readable tables

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Renders formatted ASCII tables in terminal output from nested lists of strings, with support for multi-line rows and automatic column alignment.

Yes, if you need simple ASCII table rendering in a terminal application. The package is stable, dependency-free, and widely used (6.2M monthly downloads). The aging status (no releases since 2021) is not a concern for a mature, feature-complete library, but verify compatibility if targeting Python versions beyond 3.10.

Install

terminaltables on PyPI

pip install terminaltables

uv add terminaltables

poetry add terminaltables

Installing terminaltables

Before you install

Installation is straightforward with no runtime dependencies. The package is aging (last release 2021-12-07, 1711 days ago) but remains in production/stable status with an active repository.

License in practice

MIT license is permissive and poses no restrictions on commercial or proprietary use.

Quickstart

from terminaltables import AsciiTable

table_data = [
    ['Heading1', 'Heading2'],
    ['row1 column1', 'row1 column2']
]
table = AsciiTable(table_data)
print(table.table)

Verify before relying

• Whether multi-line row handling works correctly with all terminal widths and edge cases
• Current compatibility with Python versions beyond 3.10 (classifiers list 3.10 as latest tested)

Package facts

Evidence: terminaltables-3.1.10-py2.py3-none-any.whl

Keywords: Shell, Bash, ANSI, ASCII, terminal, tables

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