NAME

Text::ANSITable - Create nice formatted tables using extended ASCII and ANSI colors

VERSION

version 0.27

SYNOPSIS

use 5.010;
use Text::ANSITable;

# don't forget this if you want to output utf8 characters
binmode(STDOUT, ":utf8");

my $t = Text::ANSITable->new;

# set styles
$t->border_style('Default::bold');  # if not, a nice default is picked
$t->color_theme('Default::sepia');  # if not, a nice default is picked

# fill data
$t->columns(["name", "color", "price"]);
$t->add_row(["chiki"      , "yellow",  2000]);
$t->add_row(["lays"       , "green" ,  7000]);
$t->add_row(["tao kae noi", "blue"  , 18500]);

# draw it!
say $t->draw;

Samples of output:

DESCRIPTION

This module is yet another text table formatter module like Text::ASCIITable or Text::SimpleTable, with the following differences:

Colors and color themes

ANSI color codes will be used by default (even 256 and 24bit colors), but will degrade to lower color depth and black/white according to terminal support.
Box-drawing characters

Box-drawing characters will be used by default, but will degrade to using normal ASCII characters if terminal does not support them.
Unicode and wide character support

Border styles using Unicode characters (double lines, bold/heavy lines, brick style, etc). Columns containing wide characters stay aligned.

Compared to Text::ASCIITable, it uses lower_case method/attr names instead of CamelCase, and it uses arrayref for columns and add_row. When specifying border styles, the order of characters are slightly different. More fine-grained options to customize appearance.

It uses Moo object system.

BORDER STYLES

To list available border styles:

say $_ for $t->list_border_styles;

Or you can also try out borders using the provided ansitable-list-border-styles script. Or, you can also view the documentation for the Text::ANSITable::BorderStyle::* modules, where border styles are searched.

To choose border style, either set the border_style attribute to an available border style or a border specification directly.

$t->border_style("Default::singleh_boxchar");
$t->border_style("Foo::bar");   # dies, no such border style
$t->border_style({ ... }); # set specification directly

If no border style is selected explicitly, a nice default will be chosen. You can also set the ANSITABLE_BORDER_STYLE environment variable to set the default.

To create a new border style, create a module under Text::ANSITable::BorderStyle::. Please see one of the existing border style modules for example, like Text::ANSITable::BorderStyle::Default. For more about border styles, refer to SHARYANTO::Role::BorderStyle.

COLOR THEMES

To list available color themes:

say $_ for $t->list_color_themes;

Or you can also run the provided ansitable-list-color-themes script. Or you can view the documentation for the Text::ANSITable::ColorTheme::* modules where color themes are searched.

To choose a color theme, either set the color_theme attribute to an available color theme or a color theme specification directly.

$t->color_theme("Default::default_nogradation");
$t->color_theme("Foo::bar");    # dies, no such color theme
$t->color_theme({ ... });  # set specification directly

If no color theme is selected explicitly, a nice default will be chosen. You can also set the ANSITABLE_COLOR_THEME environment variable to set the default.

To create a new color theme, create a module under Text::ANSITable::ColorTheme::. Please see one of the existing color theme modules for example, like Text::ANSITable::ColorTheme::Default. For more about color themes, refer to SHARYANTO::Role::ColorTheme.

COLUMN WIDTHS

By default column width is set just so it is enough to show the widest data. This can be customized in the following ways (in order of precedence, from lowest):

table-level cell_width attribute

This sets width for all columns.

per-column width style

$t->set_column_style('colname', width => 20);

You can use negative number to mean minimum width.

ROW HEIGHTS

This can be customized in the following ways (in order of precedence, from lowest):

table-level cell_height attribute

This sets height for all rows.
per-row height style
```
$t->set_row_style(1, height => 2);
```

You can use negative number to mean minimum height.

CELL (HORIZONTAL) PADDING

By default cell (horizontal) padding is 1. This can be customized in the following ways (in order of precedence, from lowest):

table-level cell_pad attribute

This sets left and right padding for all columns.
table-level cell_lpad and cell_rpad attributes

They set left and right padding for all columns, respectively.

per-column pad style

$t->set_column_style($colname, pad => 0);

per-column lpad/rpad style

$t->set_column_style($colname, lpad => 1);
$t->set_column_style($colname, rpad => 2);

ROW VERTICAL PADDING

Default vertical padding is 0. This can be changed in the following ways (in order of precedence, from lowest):

table-level cell_vpad attribute

This sets top and bottom padding for all rows.
table-level cell_tpad/cell_bpad attributes

They set top/bottom padding separately for all rows.

per-row vpad style

Example:

$t->set_row_style($rownum, vpad => 1);

When adding row:

$t->add_row($rownum, {vpad=>1});

per-row tpad/vpad style

Example:

$t->set_row_style($row_num, tpad => 1);
$t->set_row_style($row_num, bpad => 2);

When adding row:

$t->add_row($row, {tpad=>1, bpad=>2});

CELL COLORS

By default data format colors are used, e.g. cyan/green for text (using the default color scheme, items num_data, bool_data, etc). In absense of that, cell_fgcolor and cell_bgcolor from the color scheme are used. You can customize colors in the following ways (ordered by precedence, from lowest):

table-level cell_fgcolor and cell_bgcolor attributes

Sets all cells' colors. Color should be specified using 6-hexdigit RGB which will be converted to the appropriate terminal color.

Can also be set to a coderef which will receive ($rownum, $colname) and should return an RGB color.

per-column fgcolor and bgcolor styles

Example:

$t->set_column_style('colname', fgcolor => 'fa8888');
$t->set_column_style('colname', bgcolor => '202020');

per-row fgcolor and bgcolor styles

Example:

$t->set_row_style($rownum, {fgcolor => 'fa8888', bgcolor => '202020'});

When adding row/rows:

$t->add_row($row, {fgcolor=>..., bgcolor=>...});
$t->add_rows($rows, {bgcolor=>...});

per-cell fgcolor and bgcolor styles

Example:

$t->set_cell_style($rownum, $colname, fgcolor => 'fa8888');
$t->set_cell_style($rownum, $colname, bgcolor => '202020');

For flexibility, all colors can be specified as coderef. See "COLOR THEMES" for more details.

CELL (HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL) ALIGNMENT

By default, numbers are right-aligned, dates and bools are centered, and the other data types (text including) are left-aligned. All data are top-valigned. This can be customized in the following ways (in order of precedence, from lowest):

table-level cell_align and cell_valign attribute

per-column align and valign styles

Example:

$t->set_column_style($colname, align  => 'middle'); # or left, or right
$t->set_column_style($colname, valign => 'top');    # or bottom, or middle

per-row align and valign styles

per-cell align and valign styles

$t->set_cell_style($rownum, $colname, align  => 'middle');
$t->set_cell_style($rownum, $colname, valign => 'top');

CELL FORMATS

The per-column and per-cell formats styles regulate how to format data. The value for this style setting will be passed to Data::Unixish::Apply's apply(), as the functions argument. So it should be a single string (like date) or an array (like ['date', ['centerpad', {width=>20}]]).

See Data::Unixish or install App::dux and then run dux -l to see what functions are available. Functions of interest to formatting data include: bool, num, sprintf, sprintfn, wrap, (among others).

ATTRIBUTES

columns => ARRAY OF STR

Store column names. Note that when drawing, you can omit some columns, reorder them, or display some more than once (see column_filter attribute).

rows => ARRAY OF ARRAY OF STR

Store row data. You can set this attribute directly, or add rows incrementally using add_row() and add_rows() methods.

row_filter => CODE|ARRAY OF INT

When drawing, only show rows that match this. Can be an array containing indices of rows which should be shown, or a coderef which will be called for each row with arguments ($row, $row_num) and should return a bool value indicating whether that row should be displayed.

Internal note: During drawing, rows will be filtered and put into $t->{_draw}{frows}.

column_filter => CODE|ARRAY OF STR

When drawing, only show columns that match this. Can be an array containing names of columns that should be displayed (column names can be in different order or duplicate, column can also be referred to with its numeric index). Can also be a coderef which will be called with ($col_name, $col_num) for every column and should return a bool value indicating whether that column should be displayed. The coderef version is more limited in that it cannot reorder the columns or instruct for the same column to be displayed more than once.

Internal note: During drawing, column names will be filtered and put into $t->{_draw}{fcols}.

column_wrap => BOOL

Set column wrapping for all columns. Can be overriden by per-column wrap style. By default column wrapping will only be done for text columns and when width is explicitly set to a positive value.

use_color => BOOL

Whether to output color. Default is taken from COLOR environment variable, or detected via (-t STDOUT). If use_color is set to 0, an attempt to use a colored color theme (i.e. anything that is not the no_color theme) will result in an exception.

(In the future, setting use_color to 0 might opt the module to use normal/plain string routines instead of the slower ta_* functions from Text::ANSI::Util; this also means that the module won't handle ANSI escape codes in the content text.)

color_depth => INT

Terminal's color depth. Either 16, 256, or 2**24 (16777216). Default will be retrieved from COLOR_DEPTH environment or detected using Term::Detect.

use_box_chars => BOOL

Whether to use box drawing characters. Drawing box drawing characters can be problematic in some places because it uses ANSI escape codes to switch to (and back from) line drawing mode ("\e(0" and "\e(B", respectively).

Default is taken from BOX_CHARS environment variable, or 1. If use_box_chars is set to 0, an attempt to use a border style that uses box drawing chararacters will result in an exception.

use_utf8 => BOOL

Whether to use Unicode (UTF8) characters. Default is taken from UTF8 environment variable, or detected using Term::Detect, or guessed via LANG environment variable. If use_utf8 is set to 0, an attempt to select a border style that uses Unicode characters will result in an exception.

border_style => HASH

Border style specification to use.

You can set this attribute's value with a specification or border style name. See "BORDER STYLES"" in " for more details.

border_style_args => HASH

Some border styles can accept arguments. You can set it here. See the corresponding border style's documentation for information on what arguments it accepts.

color_theme => HASH

Color theme specification to use.

You can set this attribute's value with a specification or color theme name. See "COLOR THEMES"" in " for more details.

color_theme_args => HASH

Some color themes can accept arguments. You can set it here. See the corresponding color theme's documentation for information on what arguments it accepts.

show_header => BOOL (default: 1)

When drawing, whether to show header.

show_row_separator => INT (default: 2)

When drawing, whether to show separator lines between rows. The default (2) is to only show separators drawn using add_row_separator(). If you set this to 1, lines will be drawn after every data row. If you set this attribute to 0, no lines will be drawn whatsoever.

cell_width => INT

Set width for all cells. Can be overriden by per-column width style.

cell_height => INT

Set height for all cell. Can be overriden by per-row height style.

cell_align => STR

Set (horizontal) alignment for all cells. Either left, middle, or right. Can be overriden by per-column/per-row/per-cell align style.

cell_valign => STR

Set (horizontal) alignment for all cells. Either top, middle, or bottom. Can be overriden by per-column/per-row/per-cell align style.

cell_pad => INT

Set (horizontal) padding for all cells. Can be overriden by per-column pad style.

cell_lpad => INT

Set left padding for all cells. Overrides the cell_pad attribute. Can be overriden by per-column lpad style.

cell_rpad => INT

Set right padding for all cells. Overrides the cell_pad attribute. Can be overriden by per-column rpad style.

cell_vpad => INT

Set vertical padding for all cells. Can be overriden by per-row vpad style.

cell_tpad => INT

Set top padding for all cells. Overrides the cell_vpad attribute. Can be overriden by per-row tpad style.

cell_bpad => INT

Set bottom padding for all cells. Overrides the cell_vpad attribute. Can be overriden by per-row bpad style.

cell_fgcolor => RGB|CODE

Set foreground color for all cells. Value should be 6-hexdigit RGB. Can also be a coderef that will receive %args (e.g. row_num, col_name, col_num) and should return an RGB color. Can be overriden by per-cell fgcolor style.

cell_bgcolor => RGB|CODE

Like cell_fgcolor but for background color.

header_fgcolor => RGB|CODE

Set foreground color for all headers. Overrides cell_fgcolor for headers. Value should be a 6-hexdigit RGB. Can also be a coderef that will receive %args (e.g. col_name, col_num) and should return an RGB color.

header_bgcolor => RGB|CODE

Like header_fgcolor but for background color.

header_align => STR

header_valign => STR

header_vpad => INT

header_tpad => INT

header_bpad => INT

METHODS

$t = Text::ANSITable->new(%attrs) => OBJ

Constructor.

$t->list_border_styles => LIST

Return the names of available border styles. Border styles will be searched in Text::ANSITable::BorderStyle::* modules.

$t->list_color_themes => LIST

Return the names of available color themes. Color themes will be searched in Text::ANSITable::ColorTheme::* modules.

$t->get_border_style($name) => HASH

Can also be called as a static method: Text::ANSITable->get_border_style($name).

$t->get_color_theme($name) => HASH

Can also be called as a static method: Text::ANSITable->get_color_theme($name).

$t->add_row(\@row[, \%styles]) => OBJ

Add a row. Note that row data is not copied, only referenced.

Can also add per-row styles (which can also be done using row_style()).

$t->add_rows(\@rows[, \%styles]) => OBJ

Add multiple rows. Note that row data is not copied, only referenced.

Can also add per-row styles (which can also be done using row_style()).

$t->add_row_separator() => OBJ

Add a row separator line.

$t->get_cell($row_num, $col) => VAL

Get cell value at row #$row_num (starts from zero) and column named/numbered $col.

$t->set_cell($row_num, $col, $newval) => VAL

Set cell value at row #$row_num (starts from zero) and column named/numbered $col. Return old value.

$t->get_column_style($col, $style) => VAL

Get per-column style for column named/numbered $col.

$t->set_column_style($col, $style=>$val[, $style2=>$val2, ...])

Set per-column style(s) for column named/numbered $col. Available values for $style: align, valign, pad, lpad, rpad, width, formats, fgcolor, bgcolor, type, wrap.

$t->get_row_style($row_num) => VAL

Get per-row style for row numbered $row_num.

$t->set_row_style($row_num, $style=>$newval[, $style2=>$newval2, ...])

Set per-row style(s) for row numbered $row_num. Available values for $style: align, valign, height, vpad, tpad, bpad, fgcolor, bgcolor.

$t->get_cell_style($row_num, $col, $style) => VAL

Get per-cell style.

$t->set_cell_style($row_num, $col, $style=>$newval[, $style2=>$newval2, ...])

Set per-cell style(s). Available values for $style: align, valign, formats, fgcolor, bgcolor.

$t->draw => STR

Render table.

ENVIRONMENT

COLOR => BOOL

Can be used to set default value for the color attribute.

COLOR_DEPTH => INT

Can be used to set default value for the color_depth attribute.

BOX_CHARS => BOOL

Can be used to set default value for the box_chars attribute.

UTF8 => BOOL

Can be used to set default value for the utf8 attribute.

COLUMNS => INT

Can be used to override terminal width detection.

ANSITABLE_BORDER_STYLE => STR

Can be used to set default value for border_style attribute.

ANSITABLE_COLOR_THEME => STR

Can be used to set default value for border_style attribute.

ANSITABLE_STYLE => JSON

Can be used to set table's most attributes. Value should be a JSON-encoded hash of attr => val pairs. Example:

% ANSITABLE_STYLE='{"show_row_separator":1}' ansitable-list-border-styles

will display table with row separator lines after every row.

ANSITABLE_COLUMN_STYLES => JSON

Can be used to set per-column styles. Interpreted right before draw(). Value should be a JSON-encoded hash of col => {style => val, ...} pairs. Example:

% ANSITABLE_COLUMN_STYLES='{"2":{"type":"num"},"3":{"type":"str"}}' ansitable-list-border-styles

will display the bool columns as num and str instead.

ANSITABLE_ROW_STYLES => JSON

Can be used to set per-row styles. Interpreted right before draw(). Value should be a JSON-encoded a hash of row_num => {style => val, ...} pairs. Example:

% ANSITABLE_ROW_STYLES='{"0":{"bgcolor":"000080","vpad":1}}' ansitable-list-border-styles

will display the first row with blue background color and taller height.

ANSITABLE_CELL_STYLES => JSON

Can be used to set per-cell styles. Interpreted right before draw(). Value should be a JSON-encoded a hash of "row_num,col" => {style => val, ...} pairs. Example:

% ANSITABLE_CELL_STYLES='{"1,1":{"bgcolor":"008000"}}' ansitable-list-border-styles

will display the second-on-the-left, second-on-the-top cell with green background color.

FAQ

General

Output is too fancy! I just want to generate some plain (Text::ASCIITable-like) output to be pasted to my document.

$t->use_utf8(0);
$t->use_box_chars(0);
$t->use_color(0);
$t->border_style('Default::single_ascii');

and you're good to go. Alternatively you can set environment UTF8=0, BOX_CHARS=0, COLOR=0, and ANSITABLE_BORDER_STYLE=Default::single_ascii.

Why am I getting 'Wide character in print' warning?

You are probably using a utf8 border style, and you haven't done something like this to your output:

binmode(STDOUT, ":utf8");

That's because less by default escapes ANSI color and box_char codes. Try using -R option of less to display ANSI color codes raw.

Or, try not using colors and box_char border styles:

$t->use_color(0);
$t->use_box_chars(0);

Note that as of this writing, less -R does not interpret box_char codes so you'll need to avoid using box_char border styles if you want your output to display properly under less.

How do I hide some columns/rows when drawing?

Use the column_filter and row_filter attributes. For example, given this table:

my $t = Text::ANSITable->new;
$t->columns([qw/one two three/]);
$t->add_row([$_, $_, $_]) for 1..10;

Doing this:

$t->row_filter([0, 1, 4]);
print $t->draw;

will show:

 one | two | three
-----+-----+-------
   1 |   1 |     1
   2 |   2 |     2
   5 |   5 |     5

Doing this:

$t->row_filter(sub { my ($row, $idx) = @_; $row->[0] % 2 }

will display:

 one | two | three
-----+-----+-------
   1 |   1 |     1
   3 |   3 |     3
   5 |   5 |     5
   7 |   7 |     7
   9 |   9 |     9

Doing this:

$t->column_filter([qw/two one 0/]);

will display:

 two | one | one
-----+-----+-----
   1 |   1 |   1
   2 |   2 |   2
   3 |   3 |   3
   4 |   4 |   4
   5 |   5 |   5
   6 |   6 |   6
   7 |   7 |   7
   8 |   8 |   8
   9 |   9 |   9
  10 |  10 |  10

Doing this:

$t->column_filter(sub { my ($colname, $idx) = @_; $colname =~ /t/ });

will display:

 two | three
-----+-------
   1 |     1
   2 |     2
   3 |     3
   4 |     4
   5 |     5
   6 |     6
   7 |     7
   8 |     8
   9 |     9
  10 |    10

Formatting data

How do I format data?

Use the formats per-column style or per-cell style. For example:

$t->set_column_style('available', formats => [[bool=>{style=>'check_cross'}],
                                              [centerpad=>{width=>10}]]);
$t->set_column_style('amount'   , formats => [[num=>{decimal_digits=>2}]]);
$t->set_column_style('size'     , formats => [[num=>{style=>'kilo'}]]);

See Data::Unixish::Apply and Data::Unixish for more details on the available formatting functions.

How does the module determine column data type?

Currently: if column name has the word date or time in it, the column is assumed to contain date data. If column name has ? in it, the column is assumed to be bool. If a column contains only numbers (or undefs), it is num. Otherwise, it is str.

How does the module format data types?

Currently: num will be right aligned and applied num_data color (cyan in the default theme). date will be centered and applied date_data color (gold in the default theme). bool will be centered and formatted as check/cross symbol and applied bool_data color (red/green depending on whether the data is false/true). str will be applied str_data color (no color in the default theme).

Other color themes might use different colors.

How do I force column to be of a certain data type?

For example, you have a column named deleted but want to display it as bool. You can do:

$t->set_column_style(deleted => type => 'bool');

How do I wrap long text?

The wrap dux function can be used to wrap text (see: Data::Unixish::wrap). You'll want to set ansi and mb both to 1 to handle ANSI escape codes and wide characters in your text (unless you are sure that your text does not contain those):

$t->set_column_style('description', formats=>[[wrap => {width=>60, ansi=>1, mb=>1}]]);

How do I highlight text with color?

The ansi::highlight dux function can be used to highlight text (see: Data::Unixish::ansi::highlight).

$t->set_column_style(2, formats => [[highlight => {pattern=>$pat}]]);

I want to change the default bool cross/check sign representation!

By default, bool columns are shown as cross/check sign. This can be changed, e.g.:

$t->set_column_style($colname, type    => 'bool',
                               formats => [[bool => {style=>"Y_N"}]]);

See Data::Unixish::bool for more details.

Border

How to hide borders?

There is currently no show_border attribute. Choose border styles like Default::space_ascii or Default::none_utf8:

$t->border_style("Default::none");

Why are there 'none_ascii' as well 'none_utf8' and 'none_boxchar' border styles?

Because of the row separator, that can still be drawn if add_row_separator() is used. See next question.

I want to hide borders, and I do not want row separators to be shown!

The default is for separator lines to be drawn if drawn using add_row_separator(), e.g.:

$t->add_row(['row1']);
$t->add_row(['row2']);
$t->add_row_separator;
$t->add_row(['row3']);

The result will be:

  row1
  row2
--------
  row3

However, if you set show_row_separator to 0, no separator lines will be drawn whatsoever:

row1
row2
row3

I want to separate each row with a line!

Set show_row_separator to 1, or alternatively, set ANSITABLE_STYLE='{"show_row_separator":1}.

Color

How to disable colors?

Set use_color attribute or COLOR environment to 0.

How to specify colors using names (e.g. red, 'navy blue') instead of RGB?

Use modules like Graphics::ColorNames.

The default is to disable colors when (-t STDOUT) is false. You can force-enable colors by setting use_color attribute or COLOR environment to 1.

How to enable 256 colors? I'm seeing only 16 colors.

Use terminal emulators that support 256 colors, e.g. Konsole, xterm, gnome-terminal, PuTTY/pterm (but the last one has minimal Unicode support). Better yet, use Konsole or Konsole-based emulators which supports 24bit colors.

How to enable 24bit colors (true color)?

Currently only Konsole and the Konsole-based Yakuake terminal emulator software support 24bit colors.

How to force lower color depth? (e.g. I use Konsole but want 16 colors)

Set COLOR_DEPTH to 16.

How to change border gradation color?

The default color theme applies vertical color gradation to borders from white (ffffff) to gray (444444). To change this, set border1 and border2 theme arguments:

$t->color_theme_args({border1=>'ff0000', border2=>'00ff00'}); # red to green

I'm using terminal emulator with white background, the texts are not very visible!

Try using the "*_whitebg" themes, as the other themes are geared towards terminal emulators with black background.

How to set different background colors for odd/even rows?

Aside from doing $t->set_row_style($row_num, bgcolor=>...) for each row, you can also do this:

$t->cell_bgcolor(sub { my ($self, %args) = @_; $args{row_num} % 2 ? '202020' : undef });

TODO/BUGS

Most color themes still look crappy on 256 colors (I develop on Konsole).

Attributes: cell_wrap? (a shorter/nicer version for formats => [[wrap => {ansi=>1, mb=>1}]]).

Column styles: show_{left,right}_border (shorter name? {l,r}border?)

Row styles: show_{top,bottom}_border (shorter name? {t,b}border?)

row span? column span?

HOMEPAGE

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

SOURCE

Source repository is at https://github.com/sharyanto/perl-Text-ANSITable.

BUGS

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

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.

AUTHOR

Steven Haryanto <stevenharyanto@gmail.com>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

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

To install Text::ANSITable, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm Text::ANSITable

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Text::ANSITable

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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