Using PrettyTable in Python to Display Structured CLI Tables

PrettyTable is a Python library that formats data into attractive tables for command‑line interfaces, handling Unicode (including Chinese) gracefully.

Installation : Install via pip install prettytable .

Basic Example (row‑wise creation):

#!/usr/bin/python
# coding:utf-8
import sys
from prettytable import PrettyTable
reload(sys)
sys.setdefaultencoding('utf8')

table = PrettyTable(['编号','云编号','名称','IP地址'])
for i in range(1,10):
    table.add_row([str(i), f'server0{i}', f'服务器0{i}', f'172.16.0.{i}'])
print(table)

The output shows a bordered table with the four columns.

Adding Data :

Row addition: table.add_row([...]) (list length must match header length).

Column addition: table.add_column('项目', ['编号','云编号','名称','IP地址']) and table.add_column('值', ['1','server01','服务器01','172.16.0.1']) .

CSV import: from prettytable import from_csv fp = open('res.csv','r') table = from_csv(fp) print(table) fp.close()

Database import (SQLite example):

#!/usr/bin/python
# coding:utf-8
import sys, sqlite3
from prettytable import PrettyTable, from_db_cursor
reload(sys)
sys.setdefaultencoding('utf8')

conn = sqlite3.connect('/tmp/aliyun.db')
cur = conn.cursor()
cur.execute('SELECT * FROM res')
table = from_db_cursor(cur)
print(table)

HTML import example:

#!/usr/bin/python
# coding:utf-8
import sys
from prettytable import PrettyTable, from_html
reload(sys)
sys.setdefaultencoding('utf8')

html_string = '''<table>
<tr><th>编号</th><th>云编号</th><th>名称</th><th>IP地址</th></tr>
<tr><td>1</td><td>server01</td><td>服务器01</td><td>172.16.0.1</td></tr>
<tr><td>2</td><td>server02</td><td>服务器02</td><td>172.16.0.2</td></tr>
</table>'''

table = from_html(html_string)
print(table[0])

Output Formats :

Standard print: print(table) (bordered ASCII table).

HTML string: print(table.get_html_string()) .

Selective Output :

Specific columns: print(table.get_string(fields=['编号','IP地址'])) .

Row range: print(table.get_string(start=0, end=2)) (prints rows 0‑1).

Slicing: new_table = table[0:2] print(new_table) .

Sorting: print(table.get_string(sortby='编号', reversesort=True)) .

Styling :

Built‑in styles via table.set_style(DEFAULT) , MSWORD_FRIENDLY , PLAIN_COLUMNS , or random RANDOM .

Custom alignment: table.align[1] = 'l' (left‑align column 1).

Border control: table.border = True , table.junction_char='$' , table.horizontal_char='+' , table.vertical_char='%' .

These options let developers tailor the appearance of CLI tables to suit readability and aesthetic preferences.