NAME

Text::Table::Any - Generate text table using one of several backends

VERSION

This document describes version 0.116 of Text::Table::Any (from Perl distribution Text-Table-Any), released on 2023-11-11.

SYNOPSIS

use Text::Table::Any qw/generate_table/;

my $rows = [
    # first element is header row
    ['Distribution', 'Author', 'First Version', 'Latest Version', 'Abstract'],

    # subsequent elements are data rows
    ['ACME-Dzil-Test-daemon', 'DAEMON', '0.001', '0.001', 'Module abstract placeholder text'],
    ['ACME-Dzil-Test-daemon2', 'DAEMON', '0.001', '0.001', 'Module abstract placeholder text'],
    ['Acme-CPANModules-ShellCompleters', 'PERLANCAR', '0.001', '0.001', 'Modules that provide shell tab completion for other commands/scripts'],
    ['Acme-CPANModules-WorkingWithURL', 'PERLANCAR', '0.001', '0.001', 'Working with URL'],
];

print generate_table(rows => $rows);

will render the table using the default backend Text::Table::Sprintf and print something like:

+----------------------------------+-----------+---------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Distribution                     | Author    | First Version | Latest Version | Abstract                                                             |
+----------------------------------+-----------+---------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ACME-Dzil-Test-daemon            | DAEMON    | 0.001         | 0.001          | Module abstract placeholder text                                     |
| ACME-Dzil-Test-daemon2           | DAEMON    | 0.001         | 0.001          | Module abstract placeholder text                                     |
| Acme-CPANModules-ShellCompleters | PERLANCAR | 0.001         | 0.001          | Modules that provide shell tab completion for other commands/scripts |
| Acme-CPANModules-WorkingWithURL  | PERLANCAR | 0.001         | 0.001          | Working with URL                                                     |
+----------------------------------+-----------+---------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+

To pick another backend:

print generate_table(
    rows => $rows,
    backend => "Text::Table::Org",
);

The result is something like:

| Distribution                     | Author    | First Version | Latest Version | Abstract                                                             |
|----------------------------------+-----------+---------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ACME-Dzil-Test-daemon            | DAEMON    | 0.001         | 0.001          | Module abstract placeholder text                                     |
| ACME-Dzil-Test-daemon2           | DAEMON    | 0.001         | 0.001          | Module abstract placeholder text                                     |
| Acme-CPANModules-ShellCompleters | PERLANCAR | 0.001         | 0.001          | Modules that provide shell tab completion for other commands/scripts |
| Acme-CPANModules-WorkingWithURL  | PERLANCAR | 0.001         | 0.001          | Working with URL                                                     |

To specify some other options:

print generate_table(
    rows => $rows,
    header_row => 0,   # default is true
    separate_rows => 1, # default is false
    caption => "Some of the new distributions released in Jan 2022",
    backend => "Text::Table::Org",
);

The result is something like:

#+CAPTION: Some of the new distributions released in Jan 2022
| Distribution                     | Author    | First Version | Latest Version | Abstract                                                             |
|----------------------------------+-----------+---------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ACME-Dzil-Test-daemon            | DAEMON    | 0.001         | 0.001          | Module abstract placeholder text                                     |
|----------------------------------+-----------+---------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ACME-Dzil-Test-daemon2           | DAEMON    | 0.001         | 0.001          | Module abstract placeholder text                                     |
|----------------------------------+-----------+---------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Acme-CPANModules-ShellCompleters | PERLANCAR | 0.001         | 0.001          | Modules that provide shell tab completion for other commands/scripts |
|----------------------------------+-----------+---------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Acme-CPANModules-WorkingWithURL  | PERLANCAR | 0.001         | 0.001          | Working with URL                                                     |

To pass backend-specific options:

print generate_table(
    rows => $rows,
    backend => "Text::Table::More",
    backend_opts => {
        border_style => 'ASCII::SingleLineDoubleAfterHeader',
        align => 'right',
        row_attrs => [
            [0, {align=>'middle'}],
        ],
    },
);

The result is something like:

.----------------------------------+-----------+---------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------.
|           Distribution           |  Author   | First Version | Latest Version |                               Abstract                               |
+==================================+===========+===============+================+======================================================================+
|            ACME-Dzil-Test-daemon |    DAEMON |         0.001 |          0.001 |                                     Module abstract placeholder text |
|           ACME-Dzil-Test-daemon2 |    DAEMON |         0.001 |          0.001 |                                     Module abstract placeholder text |
| Acme-CPANModules-ShellCompleters | PERLANCAR |         0.001 |          0.001 | Modules that provide shell tab completion for other commands/scripts |
|  Acme-CPANModules-WorkingWithURL | PERLANCAR |         0.001 |          0.001 |                                                     Working with URL |
`----------------------------------+-----------+---------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------'

DESCRIPTION

This module provides a single function, generate_table, which formats a two-dimensional array of data as text table, using one of several available backends. The interface is modelled after Text::Table::Tiny, but Text::Table::Sprintf is the default backend and although Text::Table::Tiny is among the supported backends, it is not required by this module.

DIFFERENCES WITH TEXT::TABLE::TINY

  • 'top_and_tail' option from Text::Table::Tiny is not supported

    Probably won't be supported. You can pass this option to Text::Table::Tiny backend via "backend_opts" option.

  • 'style' option from Text::Table::Tiny is not supported

    Won't be supported because this is specific to Text::Table::Tiny. If you want custom border styles, here are some alternative backends you can use: Text::ANSITable, Text::Table::TinyBorderStyle, Text::Table::More, Text::UnicodeBox::Table.

  • 'indent' option from Text::Table::Tiny is not supported

    Probably won't be supported. You can indent a multiline string in Perl using something like:

    $rendered_table =~ s/^/  /mg; # indent each line with two spaces
  • 'compact' option from Text::Table::Tiny is not supported

    May be supported in the future.

VARIABLES

@BACKENDS

List of supported backends.

%BACKEND_FEATURES

List of features supported by each backend. Hash key is backend name, e.g. Text::Table::Sprintf. Hash value is a hashref containing feature name as hashref key and a boolean value or other value as hashref value to describe the support of that feature by that backend.

FUNCTIONS

table

An old name for "generate_table" function (generate_table() was not available in Text::Table::Tiny < 0.04). This name is not available for export.

generate_table

Exportable.

Usage:

table(%params) => str

Except for the backend parameter, the parameters will mostly be passed to the backend, sometimes slightly modified if necessary to achieve the desired effect. If a parameter is not supported by a backend, then it will not be passed to the backend.

Known parameters:

  • backend

    Optional. Str, default Text::Table::Sprintf. Pick a backend module. Supported backends:

    Support matrix for each backend:

    +-------------------------------+-------+--------------------------------------------------------------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+---------+------------+------+---------------+
    | backend                       | align | align_note                                                   | backend_opts | backend_opts_note                                                                              | caption | header_row | rows | separate_rows |
    +-------------------------------+-------+--------------------------------------------------------------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+---------+------------+------+---------------+
    | Term::Table                   | 0     |                                                              |              |                                                                                                | 0       | 1          | 1    | 0             |
    | Term::TablePrint              | 0     |                                                              |              |                                                                                                | 0       | 1          | 1    | 0             |
    | Text::ANSITable               | 1     |                                                              |              |                                                                                                | 0       | 1          | 1    | 1             |
    | Text::ASCIITable              | 1     |                                                              |              |                                                                                                | 0       | 1          | 1    | 0             |
    | Text::FormatTable             | 1     | c(enter) alignment is not supported, will fallback to l(eft) |              |                                                                                                | 0       | 0          | 1    | 0             |
    | Text::MarkdownTable           | 0     |                                                              |              |                                                                                                | 0       | 1          | 1    | 0             |
    | Text::Table                   | 1     |                                                              |              |                                                                                                | 0       | 0          | 1    | 0             |
    | Text::Table::ASV              | 0     |                                                              | 1            | Backend-specific options (backend_opts) will be passed to table() or generate_table() directly | 0       | 1          | 1    | 0             |
    | Text::Table::CSV              | 0     |                                                              | 1            | Backend-specific options (backend_opts) will be passed to table() or generate_table() directly | 0       | 1          | 1    | 0             |
    | Text::Table::HTML             | 0     | TODO, backend does not support yet, parameter already passed | 1            | Backend-specific options (backend_opts) will be passed to table() or generate_table() directly | 1       | 1          | 1    | 0             |
    | Text::Table::HTML::DataTables | 0     | TODO, backend does not support yet, parameter already passed | 1            | Backend-specific options (backend_opts) will be passed to table() or generate_table() directly | 1       | 1          | 1    | 0             |
    | Text::Table::LTSV             | 0     |                                                              | 1            | Backend-specific options (backend_opts) will be passed to table() or generate_table() directly | 0       | 0          | 1    | 0             |
    | Text::Table::Manifold         | 1     |                                                              |              |                                                                                                | 0       | 1          | 1    | 0             |
    | Text::Table::More             | 1     |                                                              | 1            | Backend-specific options (backend_opts) will be passed to table() or generate_table() directly | 0       | 1          | 1    | 1             |
    | Text::Table::Org              | 0     |                                                              | 1            | Backend-specific options (backend_opts) will be passed to table() or generate_table() directly | 1       | 1          | 1    | 1             |
    | Text::Table::Paragraph        | 0     |                                                              | 1            | Backend-specific options (backend_opts) will be passed to table() or generate_table() directly | 0       | 1          | 1    | 0             |
    | Text::Table::Sprintf          | 0     |                                                              | 1            | Backend-specific options (backend_opts) will be passed to table() or generate_table() directly | 0       | 1          | 1    | 1             |
    | Text::Table::TSV              | 0     |                                                              | 1            | Backend-specific options (backend_opts) will be passed to table() or generate_table() directly | 0       | 0          | 1    | 0             |
    | Text::Table::TickitWidget     | 0     |                                                              | 1            | Backend-specific options (backend_opts) will be passed to table() or generate_table() directly | 0       | 1          | 1    | 0             |
    | Text::Table::Tiny             | 1     |                                                              | 1            | Backend-specific options (backend_opts) will be passed to table() or generate_table() directly | 0       | 1          | 1    | 1             |
    | Text::Table::TinyBorderStyle  | 0     | TODO, backend does not support yet, parameter already passed | 1            | Backend-specific options (backend_opts) will be passed to table() or generate_table() directly | 0       | 1          | 1    | 1             |
    | Text::Table::TinyColor        | 0     | TODO, backend does not support yet, parameter already passed | 1            | Backend-specific options (backend_opts) will be passed to table() or generate_table() directly | 0       | 1          | 1    | 1             |
    | Text::Table::TinyColorWide    | 0     | TODO, backend does not support yet, parameter already passed | 1            | Backend-specific options (backend_opts) will be passed to table() or generate_table() directly | 0       | 1          | 1    | 1             |
    | Text::Table::TinyWide         | 0     | TODO, backend does not support yet, parameter already passed | 1            | Backend-specific options (backend_opts) will be passed to table() or generate_table() directly | 0       | 1          | 1    | 1             |
    | Text::Table::XLSX             | 0     |                                                              | 1            | Backend-specific options (backend_opts) will be passed to table() or generate_table() directly | 0       | 1          | 1    | 0             |
    | Text::TabularDisplay          | 0     |                                                              |              |                                                                                                | 0       | 0          | 1    | 0             |
    | Text::UnicodeBox::Table       | 0     | TODO: backend supports left/right                            |              |                                                                                                | 0       | 1          | 1    | 0             |
    +-------------------------------+-------+--------------------------------------------------------------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+---------+------------+------+---------------+
  • rows

    Required. Aoaos (array of array-of-scalars). Each element in the array is a row of data, where each row is an array reference.

  • header_row

    Optional. Bool, default is true. If given a true value, the first row in the data will be interpreted as a header row, and separated visually from the rest of the table (e.g. with a ruled line). But some backends won't display differently.

  • separate_rows

    Boolean. Optional. Default is false. If set to true, will draw a separator line after each data row.

    Not all backends support this.

  • caption

    Optional. Str. Caption of the table.

  • align

    Optional. Array of Str or Str.

    This takes an array ref with one entry per column, to specify the alignment of that column. Legal values are 'l', 'c', and 'r' (for left, center, and right, respectively). You can also specify a single alignment for all columns.

    Not all backends support this. For example, Text::Table::Sprintf prior to 0.007 does not support this at all. Starting from 0.007, only support left and right alignment.

    Note that some backends like Text::ANSITable and Text::Table::More support per-row or per-cell or even conditional alignment. Some backends like Text::ASCIITable and Text::Table can also align beyond just l(eft), c(enter), r(right), e.g. justify or align on a decimal point. To do more fine-grained alignment setting, you can use the backend_opts parameter.

  • backend_opts

    Optional. Hashref. Pass backend-specific options to the backend module. Not all backend modules support this, but all backend modules that have interface following Text::Table::Tiny should support this. Also note that as the list of common options is expanded, a previously backend-specific option might be available later as a common option.

backends

Return list of supported backends. You can also get the list from the "@BACKENDS" package variable.

HOMEPAGE

Please visit the project's homepage at https://metacpan.org/release/Text-Table-Any.

SOURCE

Source repository is at https://github.com/perlancar/perl-Text-Table-Any.

SEE ALSO

Acme::CPANModules::TextTable

AUTHOR

perlancar <perlancar@cpan.org>

CONTRIBUTING

To contribute, you can send patches by email/via RT, or send pull requests on GitHub.

Most of the time, you don't need to build the distribution yourself. You can simply modify the code, then test via:

% prove -l

If you want to build the distribution (e.g. to try to install it locally on your system), you can install Dist::Zilla, Dist::Zilla::PluginBundle::Author::PERLANCAR, Pod::Weaver::PluginBundle::Author::PERLANCAR, and sometimes one or two other Dist::Zilla- and/or Pod::Weaver plugins. Any additional steps required beyond that are considered a bug and can be reported to me.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 by perlancar <perlancar@cpan.org>.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

BUGS

Please report any bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Text-Table-Any

When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature.