SimpleTables

SimpleTables is a simple, easy to use, and lightweight (6.5kb header only) library for creating ncurses tables in pure C.

Features

• Easy to use
• Lightweight
• Header only
• No dependencies
• Customizable styles
• Auto-calculates column widths

Usage

Obtain the header file and include it in your project. Then, create a table and add rows to it. Finally, call st_print_table to print the table to the screen.

#include "simpletables.h"

int main() {
    // Initialize ncurses (skipped for brevity)
    /// ...

    st_table *table = st_create_table("My Table", 60, 2);
    st_set_column(table, 0, "Column 1", 0.5);
    st_set_column(table, 1, "Column 2", 0.5);
    st_add_row(table, "Row 1", "Row 1");
    st_add_row(table, "Row 2", "Row 2");
    st_add_row(table, "Row 3", "Row 3");

    st_print_table(table);
    st_free_table(table);

    // End ncurses (skipped for brevity)
    // ...
    return 0;
}

For detailed example, see the example.c file.

Compiling

To compile the example (and any other single-file programs using SimpleTables), simply run the following command:

gcc example.c -lncurses -o example

Styles

SimpleTables has two predefined styles: star and unicode. They can be set using ST_STYLE macro (1 for star, 2 for unicode, 0 for custom). The default style is star.

#define ST_STYLE 2 // use unicode style
#include "simpletables.h"

Custom Styles

There are two ways to create a custom style. The first is to use the st_style struct and the st_create_style function. The second is to use the ST_STYLE macro. The ST_STYLE macro is a bit more convenient, but it is limited to the predefined styles.

Using macros

To use the macros style, first set ST_STYLE to 0. Then, define the following macros:

ST_SULC - The character to use for the top left corner of the table.

ST_SURC - The character to use for the top right corner of the table.

ST_SLLC - The character to use for the bottom left corner of the table.

ST_SLRC - The character to use for the bottom right corner of the table.

ST_SHL - The character to use for the horizontal line.

ST_SVL - The character to use for the vertical line.

ST_SUT - The character to use for the upper T symbol.

ST_SLT - The character to use for the lower T symbol.

ST_SLL - The character to use for the left T symbol.

ST_SRL - The character to use for the right T symbol.

ST_SC - The character to use for the cross symbol.

Using st_style struct

st_style is needed to use different styles for different tables. To create a style, use the st_create_style function. The function takes the same arguments as required in macros method.

st_style *style = st_create_style(
    ".", ".", ".", ".", ".", ".",
    ".", ".", ".", ".", ".", false); // false is for bold header

Then, use *_styled functions to print the table with the style.

st_print_styled(table, style);

After you are done with the style, free it using st_free_style.

st_free_style(style);