Format strings to make 'table' in Python 3

Question

Right now I'm using print(), calling the variables I want that are stored in a tuple and then formatting them using: print(format(x,"<10s")+ format(y,"<40s")...) but this gives me output that isn't aligned in a column form. How do I make it so that each row's element is aligned?

So, my code is for storing student details. First, it takes a string and returns a tuple, with constituent parts like: (name,surname,student ID, year).
It reads these details from a long text file on student details, and then it parses them through a tuplelayout function (the bit which will format the tuple) and is meant to tabulate the results.
So, the argument for the tuplelayout function is a tuple, of the form:
surname | name | reg number | course | year

Padraic Cunningham · Accepted Answer · 2014-11-28 22:27:49Z

6

If you are unpacking tuples just use a single str.format and justify the output as required using format-specification-mini-language:

l = [(10,1000),(200,20000)]

for x,y in l:
    print("{:<3} {:<6}".format(x,y))

10  1000  
200 20000

edited Nov 28, 2014 at 22:27

answered Nov 28, 2014 at 22:19

Padraic Cunningham

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5 Comments

smollma Over a year ago

This can't fit into my code, because you're using a list of tuples. If you try it on just one tuple, then you get an error: "ValueError: need more than 1 value to unpack", and I don't know how to fix that. Any help?

Padraic Cunningham Over a year ago

well you cannot have x and y variables if you only have a single element, you can check if your tuple has one or two items, what are x and y supposed to be in your own code?

Padraic Cunningham Over a year ago

My code also works on a single tuple but I don't see how a single tuple will form a table or why would need to justify single elements

smollma Over a year ago

So, my code is for storing student details. First, it takes a string and returns a tuple, with constituent parts like: (name,surname,student ID, year). It reads these details from a long text file on student details, and then it parses them through a tuplelayout function (the bit which will format the tuple) and is meant to tabulate the results. So, the argument for the tuplelayout function is a tuple, of the form: surname | name | reg number | course | year Can I simply

smollma Over a year ago

Can I simply use print("{:<10} {:<22}{:<7}{:<5}{:<5}".format(tple))?

smollma · Accepted Answer · 2020-12-13 04:56:00Z

-1

My shell has the font settings changed so the alignment was off. Back to font: "Courier" and everything is working fine.
Sorry.

edited Dec 13, 2020 at 4:56

answered Nov 30, 2014 at 1:47

smollma

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