cli-table-formatter

name	cli-table-formatter
description	Generate table formatters for structured CLI output with column alignment, borders, and responsive sizing.
allowed-tools	Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Glob, Grep
graph	{"domains":["domain:software-engineering"],"specializations":["specialization:cli-mcp-development"],"skillAreas":["skill-area:cli-design","skill-area:command-line-interface-tools"],"roles":["role:backend-engineer","role:platform-engineer"],"workflows":["workflow:feature-development"],"topics":["topic:developer-experience","topic:responsive-design"]}

CLI Table Formatter

Generate table formatters for structured CLI output.

Capabilities

• Create table formatters with various styles
• Configure column alignment and width
• Implement responsive table sizing
• Support Unicode borders
• Handle multiline cells
• Generate table utilities

Usage

Invoke this skill when you need to:

• Display tabular data in CLI
• Create formatted list output
• Configure column widths
• Support various border styles

Inputs

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
language	string	Yes	Target language
style	string	No	Border style (simple, unicode, markdown)
features	array	No	Required features

Generated Patterns

TypeScript Table Formatter

import chalk from 'chalk';

export interface TableColumn {
  key: string;
  header: string;
  width?: number;
  align?: 'left' | 'center' | 'right';
  format?: (value: any) => string;
}

export interface TableOptions {
  columns: TableColumn[];
  borderStyle?: 'simple' | 'unicode' | 'none' | 'markdown';
  headerColor?: (text: string) => string;
  maxWidth?: number;
}

const borders = {
  simple: {
    top: '-', bottom: '-', left: '|', right: '|',
    topLeft: '+', topRight: '+', bottomLeft: '+', bottomRight: ,
    : , : , : ,
  },
  : {
    : , : , : , : ,
    : , : , : , : ,
    : , : , : ,
    : , : , : , : ,
  },
  : {
    : , : , : , : ,
    : , : , : , : ,
    : , : , : ,
  },
};

   {
   : [];
   : ;
   :  borders.;

  () {
    . = options;
    . = options.;
    . = borders[options. || ];
  }

   (: <, >[]): [] {
     ..( {
       headerWidth = col..;
       maxDataWidth = .(
        ...data.( (row[col.] ?? ).)
      );
       col. || .(headerWidth, maxDataWidth);
    });
  }

   (: , : , :  |  |  = ):  {
     padding = width - text.;
     (align === ) {
       left = .(padding / );
       right = padding - left;
       .(left) + text + .(right);
    }
     (align === ) {
       .(padding) + text;
    }
     text + .(padding);
  }

  (: <, >[]):  {
     widths = .(data);
     : [] = [];
     b = .;

    
     (b.) {
      lines.(
        b. +
        widths.( b..(w + )).(b. || b.) +
        b.
      );
    }

    
     headerCells = ..(
       + .(col., widths[i], col.) + 
    );
     headerColor = .. || chalk.;
    lines.(
      b. +
      headerCells.( (c)).(b.) +
      b.
    );

    
     (b.) {
      lines.(
        (b. || b.) +
        widths.( b..(w + )).(b.) +
        (b. || b.)
      );
    }

    
     ( row  data) {
       cells = ..( {
         value = row[col.] ?? ;
         formatted = col. ? col.(value) : (value);
          + .(formatted, widths[i], col.) + ;
      });
      lines.(b. + cells.(b.) + b.);
    }

    
     (b.) {
      lines.(
        b. +
        widths.( b..(w + )).(b. || b.) +
        b.
      );
    }

     lines.();
  }
}


  ():  {
   : [] = columns
    ? columns.(  c ===  ? { : c, : c } : c)
    : .(data[] || {}).( ({ key, : key }));

    ({ : cols }).(data);
}

Usage Examples

// Simple table
console.log(table([
  { name: 'Alice', age: 30, role: 'Admin' },
  { name: 'Bob', age: 25, role: 'User' },
]));

// Custom columns
const formatter = new TableFormatter({
  columns: [
    { key: 'id', header: 'ID', width: 6, align: 'right' },
    { key: 'name', header: 'Name', width: 20 },
    { key: 'status', header: 'Status', format: (v) =>
      v === 'active' ? chalk.green(v) : chalk.red(v)
    },
  ],
  borderStyle: 'unicode',
  headerColor: chalk.cyan.bold,
});

console.log(formatter.format(data));

Dependencies

{
  "dependencies": {
    "chalk": "^5.0.0"
  }
}

Target Processes

• cli-output-formatting
• dashboard-monitoring-tui
• cli-application-bootstrap