string-table

stringTable.js

A groundbreaking, innovative JavaScript library to do something that's literally never been attempted before: formatting an array of data objects as a textual table.

var users = [
  { name: 'Dan', gender: 'M', age: 29 },
  { name: 'Adam', gender: 'M', age: 31 },
  { name: 'Lauren', gender: 'F', age: 33 }
];

var table = stringTable.create(users);

console.log(table);

/*
 * Output:
 *
 * | name   | gender | age |
 * -------------------------
 * | Dan    | M      |  29 |
 * | Adam   | M      |  31 |
 * | Lauren | F      |  33 |
 */

You can also specify options to customize how the table is formatted:

var table = stringTable.create(users, options);

The available options are summarized below.

Options

headers

An array of strings indicating which column headers to include (and in what order)

Default: every property from the first object in the list

Example

stringTable.create(users, { headers: ['age', 'name'] });

/*
 * Output:
 *
 * | age | name   |
 * ----------------
 * |  29 | Dan    |
 * |  31 | Adam   |
 * |  33 | Lauren |
 */

capitalizeHeaders

Whether or not to capitalize the table's column headers

Default: false

Example

stringTable.create(users, { capitalizeHeaders: true });

/*
 * Output:
 *
 * | Name   | Gender | Age |
 * -------------------------
 * | Dan    | M      |  29 |
 * | Adam   | M      |  31 |
 * | Lauren | F      |  33 |
 */

formatters

An object mapping column names to formatter functions

Default: none

Example

stringTable.create(users, {
  formatters: {
    name: function(value) { return value.toUpperCase(); }
  }
});

/*
 * Output:
 *
 * | name   | gender | age |
 * -------------------------
 * | DAN    | M      |  29 |
 * | ADAM   | M      |  31 |
 * | LAUREN | F      |  33 |
 */

typeFormatters

An object mapping data types ('string', 'number', 'boolean', etc.) to formatter functions (has lower precedence than formatters option)

Default: none

Example

stringTable.create(users, {
  typeFormatters: {
    number: function(value) { return value.toFixed(2); }
  }
});

/*
 * Output:
 *
 * | name   | gender |    age |
 * ----------------------------
 * | Dan    | M      |  29.00 |
 * | Adam   | M      |  31.00 |
 * | Lauren | F      |  33.00 |
 */

outerBorder and innerBorder

The character(s) used to enclose the table and to delimit cells within the table, respectively

Defaults: '|' for both

Example

stringTable.create(users, {
  outerBorder: '%',
  innerBorder: '$'
});

/*
 * Output:
 *
 * % name   $ gender $ age %
 * -------------------------
 * % Dan    $ M      $  29 %
 * % Adam   $ M      $  31 %
 * % Lauren $ F      $  33 %
 */

rowSeparator

The character used to separate rows in the table

Default: undefined

Example

stringTable.create(users, { rowSeparator: '~' });

/*
 * Output:
 *
 * | name   | gender | age |
 * -------------------------
 * | Dan    | M      |  29 |
 * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 * | Adam   | M      |  31 |
 * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 * | Lauren | F      |  33 |
 */

headerSeparator

The character used to separate the header row from the table body

Default: '-'

Example

stringTable.create(users, { headerSeparator: '*' });

/*
 * Output:
 *
 * | name   | gender | age |
 * *************************
 * | Dan    | M      |  29 |
 * | Adam   | M      |  31 |
 * | Lauren | F      |  33 |
 */