nice table printing in python

print_table.py

def print_table(items, header=None, wrap=True, max_col_width=20, wrap_style="wrap", row_line=False, fix_col_width=False):
    ''' Prints a matrix of data as a human readable table. Matrix
    should be a list of lists containing any type of values that can
    be converted into text strings.

    Two different column adjustment methods are supported through
    the *wrap_style* argument:
    
       wrap: it will wrap values to fit max_col_width (by extending cell height)
       cut: it will strip values to max_col_width

    If the *wrap* argument is set to False, column widths are set to fit all
    values in each column.

    This code is free software. Updates can be found at
    https://gist.github.com/jhcepas/5884168
    
    '''
        
    if fix_col_width:
        c2maxw = dict([(i, max_col_width) for i in xrange(len(items[0]))])
        wrap = True
    elif not wrap:
        c2maxw = dict([(i, max([len(str(e[i])) for e in items])) for i in xrange(len(items[0]))])
    else:
        c2maxw = dict([(i, min(max_col_width, max([len(str(e[i])) for e in items])))
                        for i in xrange(len(items[0]))])
    if header:
        current_item = -1
        row = header
        if wrap and not fix_col_width:
            for col, maxw in c2maxw.iteritems():
                c2maxw[col] = max(maxw, len(header[col]))
                if wrap:
                    c2maxw[col] = min(c2maxw[col], max_col_width)
    else:
        current_item = 0
        row = items[current_item]
    while row:
        is_extra = False
        values = []
        extra_line = [""]*len(row)
        for col, val in enumerate(row):
            cwidth = c2maxw[col]
            wrap_width = cwidth
            val = str(val)
            try:
                newline_i = val.index("\n")
            except ValueError:
                pass
            else:
                wrap_width = min(newline_i+1, wrap_width)
                val = val.replace("\n", " ", 1)
            if wrap and len(val) > wrap_width:
                if wrap_style == "cut":
                    val = val[:wrap_width-1]+"+"
                elif wrap_style == "wrap":
                    extra_line[col] = val[wrap_width:]
                    val = val[:wrap_width]
            val = val.ljust(cwidth)
            values.append(val)
        print ' | '.join(values)
        if not set(extra_line) - set(['']):
            if header and current_item == -1:
                print ' | '.join(['='*c2maxw[col] for col in xrange(len(row)) ])
            current_item += 1
            try:
                row = items[current_item]
            except IndexError:
                row = None
        else:
            row = extra_line
            is_extra = True
 
        if row_line and not is_extra and not (header and current_item == 0):
            if row:
                print ' | '.join(['-'*c2maxw[col] for col in xrange(len(row)) ])
            else:
                print ' | '.join(['='*c2maxw[col] for col in xrange(len(extra_line)) ])

                
print_table([[3,2, {"whatever":1, "bla":[1,2]}], [5,"this is a test\n             of wrapping text\n  with the new function",777], [1,1,1]],
            header=[ "This is column number 1", "Column number 2", "col3"],
            wrap=True, max_col_width=15, wrap_style='wrap',
            row_line=True, fix_col_width=True)


# This is column  | Column number 2 | col3           
# number 1        |                 |                
# =============== | =============== | ===============
# 3               | 2               | {'bla': [1, 2],
#                 |                 |  'whatever': 1}
# --------------- | --------------- | ---------------
# 5               | this is a test  | 777            
#                 |              of |                
#                 |  wrapping text  |                
#                 |   with the new  |                
#                 | function        |                
# --------------- | --------------- | ---------------
# 1               | 1               | 1              
# =============== | =============== | ===============