simpletable

README

Simple tables in terminal with Go

   

Build readable terminal tables in Go with seven built-in styles, multiline cells, alignment, and column spanning.

Comparison

✅ documented · ⚠️ partial · ❌ not found in sources checked. The last status means the sources checked did not document the feature; it does not establish that the library lacks it. Each symbol links to the public source checked for that comparison.

Feature	simpletable	termtables	uitable	tablewriter	go-pretty
Multiline cell content	✅	❌	⚠️	⚠️	❌
Explicit column spans	✅	✅	❌	⚠️	⚠️
Markdown output	✅	✅	❌	✅	✅
Alignment controls	✅	✅	⚠️	✅	✅
Custom table styles	✅	✅	❌	✅	✅

Sources checked on 2026-11-09. Add a library as a column or a feature as a row, and link each status to the public source checked.

Quick start

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"

	"github.com/alexeyco/simpletable"
)

func main() {
	table := simpletable.New()
	table.Header = &simpletable.Header{
		Cells: []*simpletable.Cell{
			{Align: simpletable.AlignCenter, Text: "#"},
			{Align: simpletable.AlignCenter, Text: "NAME"},
			{Align: simpletable.AlignCenter, Text: "TAX"},
		},
	}
	rows := []struct {
		name string
		tax  float64
	}{
		{"Newton G. Goetz", 532.70},
		{"Rebecca R. Edney", 1423.25},
		{"John R. Jackson", 7526.12},
		{"Ron J. Gomes", 123.84},
		{"Penny R. Lewis", 3221.11},
	}

	total := 0.0
	for i, row := range rows {
		table.Body.Cells = append(table.Body.Cells, []*simpletable.Cell{
			{Align: simpletable.AlignRight, Text: fmt.Sprintf("%d", i+1)},
			{Text: row.name},
			{Align: simpletable.AlignRight, Text: fmt.Sprintf("$ %.2f", row.tax)},
		})

		total += row.tax
	}
	table.Footer = &simpletable.Footer{
		Cells: []*simpletable.Cell{
			{Align: simpletable.AlignRight, Span: 2, Text: "Subtotal"},
			{Align: simpletable.AlignRight, Text: fmt.Sprintf("$ %.2f", total)},
		},
	}
	table.SetStyle(simpletable.StyleCompactLite)

	for _, line := range strings.Split(table.String(), "\n") {
		fmt.Println(strings.TrimPrefix(strings.TrimRight(line, " "), " "))
	}
}

#         NAME            TAX
--- ------------------ ------------
1   Newton G. Goetz      $ 532.70
2   Rebecca R. Edney    $ 1423.25
3   John R. Jackson     $ 7526.12
4   Ron J. Gomes         $ 123.84
5   Penny R. Lewis      $ 3221.11
--- ------------------ ------------
            Subtotal   $ 12827.02

Install with go get github.com/alexeyco/simpletable.

See the styles demo, multiline example, and column-span example for more.

Benchmarks

(MacBook)

Run these benchmarks using the benchmark instructions.

BenchmarkSimpletable-12             31845             37586 ns/op           34903 B/op        760 allocs/op
BenchmarkTermtables-12              34851             34191 ns/op           24192 B/op        755 allocs/op
BenchmarkUITable-12                  6452            176884 ns/op           55480 B/op       3070 allocs/op
PASS
ok      github.com/alexeyco/simpletable/_example/03-benchmarks-with-others/bench        5.172s

License

MIT

Documentation

Overview

Package simpletable allows to generate and display ascii tables in the terminal, f.e.:

+----+------------------+--------------+-----------------------------+------+
| #  |       NAME       |    PHONE     |            EMAIL            | QTTY |
+----+------------------+--------------+-----------------------------+------+
|  1 | Newton G. Goetz  | 252-585-5166 | NewtonGGoetz@dayrep.com     |   10 |
|  2 | Rebecca R. Edney | 865-475-4171 | RebeccaREdney@armyspy.com   |   12 |
|  3 | John R. Jackson  | 810-325-1417 | JohnRJackson@armyspy.com    |   15 |
|  4 | Ron J. Gomes     | 217-450-8568 | RonJGomes@rhyta.com         |   25 |
|  5 | Penny R. Lewis   | 870-794-1666 | PennyRLewis@rhyta.com       |    5 |
|  6 | Sofia J. Smith   | 770-333-7379 | SofiaJSmith@armyspy.com     |    3 |
|  7 | Karlene D. Owen  | 231-242-4157 | KarleneDOwen@jourrapide.com |   12 |
|  8 | Daniel L. Love   | 978-210-4178 | DanielLLove@rhyta.com       |   44 |
|  9 | Julie T. Dial    | 719-966-5354 | JulieTDial@jourrapide.com   |    8 |
| 10 | Juan J. Kennedy  | 908-910-8893 | JuanJKennedy@dayrep.com     |   16 |
+----+------------------+--------------+-----------------------------+------+
|                                                           Subtotal |  150 |
+----+------------------+--------------+-----------------------------+------+

There are the following key features:

* Declarative style. Have to write more code, and hell with it.

* Styling. With 6 predefined styles: MySql-like (default), compact, compact lite, markdown, rounded and unicode. And you can change it.

* Header and footer. Separeted from table body.

* Multiline cells support. See https://github.com/alexeyco/simpletable/blob/master/_example/04-multiline/main.go for example.

* cellInterface content alignment. Left, right or center.

* Row spanning. By analogy with the way it is done in HTML. See Cell.Span attribute description.

* Fast! Really fast, see https://github.com/alexeyco/simpletable/blob/master/_example/03-benchmarks-with-others

Examples: https://github.com/alexeyco/simpletable/tree/master/_example

Index

• Constants
• Variables
• type Body
• type BorderStyle
• type Cell
• type DividerStyle
• type Footer
• type Header
• type Style
• type Table
  • func New() *Table
  • func (t *Table) Print()
  • func (t *Table) Println()
  • func (t *Table) SetStyle(style *Style)
  • func (t *Table) String() string

Constants

const (
	// AlignLeft sets cell left alignment (default).
	AlignLeft = 0

	// AlignCenter sets cell center alignment.
	AlignCenter = 1

	// AlignRight sets cell right alignment.
	AlignRight = 2
)

Variables

var (
	// StyleDefault - MySql-like table style:
	//
	// +---+------------------+------------+
	// | # |       NAME       |    TAX     |
	// +---+------------------+------------+
	// | 1 | Newton G. Goetz  |   $ 532.70 |
	// | 2 | Rebecca R. Edney |  $ 1423.25 |
	// | 3 | John R. Jackson  |  $ 7526.12 |
	// | 4 | Ron J. Gomes     |   $ 123.84 |
	// | 5 | Penny R. Lewis   |  $ 3221.11 |
	// +---+------------------+------------+
	// |   |         Subtotal | $ 12827.02 |
	// +---+------------------+------------+
	StyleDefault = &Style{
		Border: &BorderStyle{
			TopLeft:            "+",
			Top:                "-",
			TopRight:           "+",
			Right:              "|",
			BottomRight:        "+",
			Bottom:             "-",
			BottomLeft:         "+",
			Left:               "|",
			TopIntersection:    "+",
			BottomIntersection: "+",
		},
		Divider: &DividerStyle{
			Left:         "+",
			Center:       "-",
			Right:        "+",
			Intersection: "+",
		},
		Cell: "|",
	}

	// StyleCompact - compact table style:
	//
	//  #         NAME            TAX
	// === ================== ============
	//  1   Newton G. Goetz      $ 532.70
	//  2   Rebecca R. Edney    $ 1423.25
	//  3   John R. Jackson     $ 7526.12
	//  4   Ron J. Gomes         $ 123.84
	//  5   Penny R. Lewis      $ 3221.11
	// === ================== ============
	//              Subtotal   $ 12827.02
	StyleCompact = &Style{
		Border: &BorderStyle{
			TopLeft:            "",
			Top:                "",
			TopRight:           "",
			Right:              "",
			BottomRight:        "",
			Bottom:             "",
			BottomLeft:         "",
			Left:               "",
			TopIntersection:    "",
			BottomIntersection: "",
		},
		Divider: &DividerStyle{
			Left:         "",
			Center:       "=",
			Right:        "",
			Intersection: " ",
		},
		Cell: " ",
	}

	// StyleCompactLite - compact lite table style:
	//
	//  #         NAME            TAX
	// --- ------------------ ------------
	//  1   Newton G. Goetz      $ 532.70
	//  2   Rebecca R. Edney    $ 1423.25
	//  3   John R. Jackson     $ 7526.12
	//  4   Ron J. Gomes         $ 123.84
	//  5   Penny R. Lewis      $ 3221.11
	// --- ------------------ ------------
	//              Subtotal   $ 12827.02
	StyleCompactLite = &Style{
		Border: &BorderStyle{
			TopLeft:            "",
			Top:                "",
			TopRight:           "",
			Right:              "",
			BottomRight:        "",
			Bottom:             "",
			BottomLeft:         "",
			Left:               "",
			TopIntersection:    "",
			BottomIntersection: "",
		},
		Divider: &DividerStyle{
			Left:         "",
			Center:       "-",
			Right:        "",
			Intersection: " ",
		},
		Cell: " ",
	}

	// StyleCompactClassic - compact classic table style:
	//
	//  #         NAME            TAX
	//  1   Newton G. Goetz      $ 532.70
	//  2   Rebecca R. Edney    $ 1423.25
	//  3   John R. Jackson     $ 7526.12
	//  4   Ron J. Gomes         $ 123.84
	//  5   Penny R. Lewis      $ 3221.11
	//              Subtotal   $ 12827.02
	StyleCompactClassic = &Style{
		Border: &BorderStyle{
			TopLeft:            "",
			Top:                "",
			TopRight:           "",
			Right:              "",
			BottomRight:        "",
			Bottom:             "",
			BottomLeft:         "",
			Left:               "",
			TopIntersection:    "",
			BottomIntersection: "",
		},
		Divider: &DividerStyle{
			Left:         "",
			Center:       "",
			Right:        "",
			Intersection: " ",
		},
		Cell: " ",
	}

	// StyleMarkdown - markdown table style:
	//
	// | # |       NAME       |    TAX     |
	// |---|------------------|------------|
	// | 1 | Newton G. Goetz  |   $ 532.70 |
	// | 2 | Rebecca R. Edney |  $ 1423.25 |
	// | 3 | John R. Jackson  |  $ 7526.12 |
	// | 4 | Ron J. Gomes     |   $ 123.84 |
	// | 5 | Penny R. Lewis   |  $ 3221.11 |
	// |---|------------------|------------|
	// |   |         Subtotal | $ 12827.02 |
	StyleMarkdown = &Style{
		Border: &BorderStyle{
			TopLeft:            "",
			Top:                "",
			TopRight:           "",
			Right:              "|",
			BottomRight:        "",
			Bottom:             "",
			BottomLeft:         "",
			Left:               "|",
			TopIntersection:    "",
			BottomIntersection: "",
		},
		Divider: &DividerStyle{
			Left:         "|",
			Center:       "-",
			Right:        "|",
			Intersection: "|",
		},
		Cell: "|",
	}

	// StyleRounded - rounded table style:
	//
	// .---.------------------.------------.
	// | # |       NAME       |    TAX     |
	// +---+------------------+------------+
	// | 1 | Newton G. Goetz  |   $ 532.70 |
	// | 2 | Rebecca R. Edney |  $ 1423.25 |
	// | 3 | John R. Jackson  |  $ 7526.12 |
	// | 4 | Ron J. Gomes     |   $ 123.84 |
	// | 5 | Penny R. Lewis   |  $ 3221.11 |
	// +---+------------------+------------+
	// |   |         Subtotal | $ 12827.02 |
	// '---'------------------'------------'
	StyleRounded = &Style{
		Border: &BorderStyle{
			TopLeft:            ".",
			Top:                "-",
			TopRight:           ".",
			Right:              "|",
			BottomRight:        "'",
			Bottom:             "-",
			BottomLeft:         "'",
			Left:               "|",
			TopIntersection:    ".",
			BottomIntersection: "'",
		},
		Divider: &DividerStyle{
			Left:         "+",
			Center:       "-",
			Right:        "+",
			Intersection: "+",
		},
		Cell: "|",
	}

	// StyleUnicode is the Unicode table style.
	StyleUnicode = &Style{
		Border: &BorderStyle{
			TopLeft:            "╔",
			Top:                "═",
			TopRight:           "╗",
			Right:              "║",
			BottomRight:        "╝",
			Bottom:             "═",
			BottomLeft:         "╚",
			Left:               "║",
			TopIntersection:    "╤",
			BottomIntersection: "╧",
		},
		Divider: &DividerStyle{
			Left:         "╟",
			Center:       "━",
			Right:        "╢",
			Intersection: "┼",
		},
		Cell: "│",
	}
)

Types

type Body

type Body struct {
	Cells [][]*Cell
}

Body is a table body.

type BorderStyle

type BorderStyle struct {
	TopLeft            string
	Top                string
	TopRight           string
	Right              string
	BottomRight        string
	Bottom             string
	BottomLeft         string
	Left               string
	TopIntersection    string
	BottomIntersection string
}

BorderStyle defines the table border style.

type Cell

type Cell struct {
	Align int    // Cell alignment
	Span  int    // span cell to right (1 - default)
	Text  string // Cell raw text
	// contains filtered or unexported fields
}

Cell is a table cell.

type DividerStyle

type DividerStyle struct {
	Left         string
	Center       string
	Right        string
	Intersection string
}

DividerStyle defines the table divider style.

type Footer

type Footer struct {
	Cells []*Cell
}

Footer is a table footer.

type Header

type Header struct {
	Cells []*Cell
}

Header is a table header.

type Style

type Style struct {
	Border  *BorderStyle
	Divider *DividerStyle
	Cell    string // Symbol between cells
}

Style defines a table style, including borders and dividers.

type Table

type Table struct {
	Header *Header
	Body   *Body
	Footer *Footer
	// contains filtered or unexported fields
}

Table is the main table object.

func New

func New() *Table

New is a Table constructor. It loads struct data, ready to be manipulated.

func (*Table) Print

func (t *Table) Print()

Print writes the rendered table to standard output.

func (*Table) Println

func (t *Table) Println()

Println writes the rendered table to standard output followed by a newline.

func (*Table) SetStyle

func (t *Table) SetStyle(style *Style)

SetStyle sets the table style.

func (*Table) String

func (t *Table) String() string

String returns the rendered table as a string.