Printing list-of-lists in tabular form in Python

Question

I have a list formatted like the following:

list_of_DVDsuppliers=[["a","m",15],["w","p",34]]

I'd like to print out the contents of this list as a table with some headers. Here's what I've tried so far:

def dvdprintsoftlist():
    print(list_of_DVDsoftwears)
    ''' printing the available DVDstocks,supplier's details '''
    print("This is your current list of stock")
    print("Supplier Name      Softwear Name             Amount")
    print("----------------------------------------------------------------")
    for (index,[name,softname,amount]) in enumerate (list_of_DVDsuppliers):
        print(name + "          " +softname + "            " +str(amount)  + "   ")
        print("----------------------------------------------------------------")
    print("")

The problem is that this code doesn't align the table columns properly. How can I make sure all the entries are aligned with each other?

I'd also like to export my data in CSV format so that other programs can read it, but that's a separate question.

i just use this code def dvdprintsoftlist(): print(list_of_DVDsoftwears) ''' printing the available DVDstocks,supplier's details ''' print("This is your current list of stock") print("Supplier Name Softwear Name Amount") print("----------------------------------------------------------------") for (index,[name,softname,amount]) in enumerate (list_of_DVDsuppliers): print(name + " " +softname + " " +str(amount) + " ") print("----------------------------------------------------------------") print("") — user2912389
– user2912389, Commented Oct 24, 2013 at 2:54

Christian Tapia · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-01 22:53:52Z

2

You could use format(), the {i:length} in string, will be replaced by the parameters, where i is an order identifier, and length is the "length" of the field.

def dvdprintsoftlist():
    list_of_DVDsuppliers=[["a","m",15],["w","p",34]]
    print(list_of_DVDsuppliers)
    print
    ''' printing the available DVDstocks,supplier's details '''
    print("This is your current list of stock")
    print("Supplier Name\t\tSoftwear Name\t\tAmount")
    print("----------------------------------------------------------------")
    for [name, softname, amount] in list_of_DVDsuppliers:
        print("{0:23} {1:23} {2:5}".format(name, softname, amount))
        print("----------------------------------------------------------------")
    print("")

dvdprintsoftlist()

edited Jan 1, 2014 at 22:53

answered Oct 24, 2013 at 3:47

Christian Tapia

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5 Comments

user2912389 Over a year ago

this error appered Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:\Users\AAA\Desktop\python almost done\test of module useage.py", line 11, in <module> import modulenew File "C:\Users\AAA\Desktop\python almost done\modulenew.py", line 263 print "{0:23} {1:23} {2:5}".format(name, softname, amount) ^ SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Christian Tapia Over a year ago

Try this code in a new file. And see how it works, then try to add it to your code. PS: If it's a SyntaxError you may be writting something incorrect there

Christian Tapia Over a year ago

I don't understand, but if you are using python 3.x then make sure your print statement is print("{0:23} {1:23} {2:5}".format(name, softname, amount)) Note the ()

user2912389 Over a year ago

it works thanks a lot lot christian and could you help me with this quations also stackoverflow.com/questions/19556927/…

user2912389 Over a year ago

stackoverflow.com/questions/19555816/…

Sravan K Ghantasala · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-24 03:39:43Z

0

Try using the padding bits between the % and s while printing

you can use them like...

print('%-20s%-20s%-20s'%('supplier name','software name','amount'))

-for left padding and +ve(default) for right padding

answered Oct 24, 2013 at 3:39

Sravan K Ghantasala

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