How to Create Tables in Python (With Examples)

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The easiest way to create tables in Python is to use tablulate() function from the tabulate library.

To use this function, we must first install the library using pip:

pip install tabulate

We can then load the library:

from tabulate import tabulate

We can then use the following basic syntax to create tables:

print(tabulate(data, headers=col_names, tablefmt="grid", showindex="always"))

The following examples show how to use this function in practice.

Example 1: Create Table with Headers

The following code shows how to create a basic table with headers:

#create data
data = [["Mavs", 99], 
        ["Suns", 91], 
        ["Spurs", 94], 
        ["Nets", 88]]
  
#define header names
col_names = ["Team", "Points"]
  
#display table
print(tabulate(data, headers=col_names))

Team      Points
------  --------
Mavs          99
Suns          91
Spurs         94
Nets          88

Example 2: Create Table with Fancy Grid

The following code shows how to create a table with headers and a fancy grid:

#create data
data = [["Mavs", 99], 
        ["Suns", 91], 
        ["Spurs", 94], 
        ["Nets", 88]]
  
#define header names
col_names = ["Team", "Points"]
  
#display table
print(tabulate(data, headers=col_names, tablefmt="fancy_grid"))

╒════════╤══════════╕
│ Team   │   Points │
╞════════╪══════════╡
│ Mavs   │       99 │
├────────┼──────────┤
│ Suns   │       91 │
├────────┼──────────┤
│ Spurs  │       94 │
├────────┼──────────┤
│ Nets   │       88 │
╘════════╧══════════╛

Note that the tablefmt argument accepts several different options including:

• grid
• fancy_grid
• pipe
• pretty
• simple

Refer to the tabulate documentation for a complete list of potential table formats.

Example 3: Create Table with Index Column

The following code shows how to create a table with headers, a fancy grid, and an index column:

#create data
data = [["Mavs", 99], 
        ["Suns", 91], 
        ["Spurs", 94], 
        ["Nets", 88]]
  
#define header names
col_names = ["Team", "Points"]
  
#display table
print(tabulate(data, headers=col_names, tablefmt="fancy_grid", showindex="always"))

╒════╤════════╤══════════╕
│    │ Team   │   Points │
╞════╪════════╪══════════╡
│  0 │ Mavs   │       99 │
├────┼────────┼──────────┤
│  1 │ Suns   │       91 │
├────┼────────┼──────────┤
│  2 │ Spurs  │       94 │
├────┼────────┼──────────┤
│  3 │ Nets   │       88 │
╘════╧════════╧══════════╛