cli-table-modern

Modern CLI table library for Node.js. Type-safe, zero-dependency, ESM-native revival of cli-table2.

Features

• TypeScript First - Full type safety with strict TypeScript support
• Zero Dependencies - No lodash, no bloat
• ESM Native - Modern ES modules support
• Colors - ANSI colors, hex support, bold/underline styles
• Colspan/Rowsspan - Rich cells with spanning support
• Custom Styling - Preset styles (ASCII, Markdown, Rounded, Double)
• Unicode Support - Cross-platform box drawing characters

Installation

npm install cli-table-modern
# or
pnpm add cli-table-modern
# or
yarn add cli-table-modern

Quick Start

import { createTable } from 'cli-table-modern'

const table = createTable(
  [
    ['Name', 'Age', 'City'],
    ['John', '28', 'New York'],
    ['Jane', '32', 'London'],
    ['Bob', '45', 'Tokyo']
  ],
  {
    head: ['Name', 'Age', 'City']
  }
)

console.log(table)

Output:

┌──────┬─────┬──────────┐
│ Name │ Age │ City     │
├──────┼─────┼──────────┤
│ John │ 28  │ New York │
│ Jane │ 32  │ London   │
│ Bob  │ 45  │ Tokyo    │
└──────┴─────┴──────────┘

Colors

Built-in ANSI colors and hex color support:

import { createTable, ANSI } from 'cli-table-modern'

const table = createTable(
  [['Name', 'Status', 'Score']],
  {
    head: ['Name', 'Status', 'Score'],
    style: {
      head: ['cyan', 'bold'],
      border: ['gray']
    }
  }
)

Available ANSI colors:

• Foreground: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white
• Background: bgBlack, bgRed, bgGreen, bgYellow, bgBlue, bgMagenta, bgCyan, bgWhite
• Styles: bold, dim, italic, underline, inverse, hidden

Hex colors: Use any hex code (e.g., '#ff6b6b', '#4ecdc4')

Per-cell colors: Apply colors to individual cells:

import { createTable } from 'cli-table-modern'

const table = createTable(
  [
    [
      'Item',
      { content: 'Price', style: { color: 'green' } },
      { content: '$99.00', style: { color: '#ff6b6b' } }
    ]
  ]
)

Colspan and Rowspan

Create advanced layouts with spanning cells:

import { createTable } from 'cli-table-modern'

const table = createTable(
  [
    [
      { content: 'Header spans 3 columns', colSpan: 3 }
    ],
    ['Col1', 'Col2', 'Col3'],
    [
      { content: 'Spans 2 rows', rowSpan: 2 },
      'Cell 2',
      'Cell 3'
    ],
    ['', 'Cell 5', 'Cell 6']
  ],
  {
    head: ['Feature A', 'Feature B', 'Feature C']
  }
)

Preset Styles

Choose from built-in border styles:

import { createTable, STYLES } from 'cli-table-modern'

// ASCII style
const asciiTable = createTable(data, { chars: STYLES.ascii })

// Markdown-compatible
const markdownTable = createTable(data, { chars: STYLES.markdown })

// Rounded corners
const roundedTable = createTable(data, { chars: STYLES.rounded })

// Double lines
const doubleTable = createTable(data, { chars: STYLES.double })

Style previews:

ASCII:    +----+------+-------+       MARKDOWN: |----|------|-------|
          | ID | Name | Value |                 | ID | Name | Value |
          +----+------+-------+                 |----|------|-------|
          | 1  | Foo  | 100   |                 | 1  | Foo  | 100   |
          +----+------+-------+                 +----+----+---------+

ROUNDED:  ╭────┬─────┬──────╮       DOUBLE:  ╔════╦═════╦══════╗
          │ ID │ Name│ Value│                ║ ID ║ Name║ Value║
          ├────┼─────┼──────┤                ╠════╬═════╬══════╣
          │ 1  │ Foo │ 100  │                ║ 1  ║ Foo ║ 100  ║
          ╰────┴─────┴──────╯                ╚════╩═════╩══════╝

Custom Borders

Override individual border characters:

import { createTable, DEFAULT_CHARS } from 'cli-table-modern'

const table = createTable(
  [['Name', 'Value']],
  {
    chars: {
      ...DEFAULT_CHARS,
      top: '═',
      mid: '─',
      left: '║',
      right: '║'
    }
  }
)

API Reference

createTable(data, options)

Creates a formatted table from data.

import { createTable, TableData, TableOptions } from 'cli-table-modern'

const table = createTable(data, options)

Options

Option	Type	Description
head	string[]	Header row values
colWidths	number[]	Column widths in characters
colAligns	('left'|'center'|'right')[]	Column alignment
chars	UnicodeChars	Custom border characters
style	TableStyle	Styling options

TableStyle

interface TableStyle {
  head?: Color[]           // Header colors/styles
  border?: Color[] | false // Border colors (false = no borders)
  compact?: boolean        // Compact mode
  padding?: number         // Cell padding
}

CellStyle

interface CellStyle {
  color?: Color        // Text color (ANSI name or hex)
  background?: Color   // Background color (ANSI name or hex)
}

RichCell

interface RichCell {
  content: string | number | boolean | null | undefined
  colSpan?: number     // Number of columns to span
  rowSpan?: number     // Number of rows to span
  style?: CellStyle    // Per-cell styling
}

UnicodeChars

interface UnicodeChars {
  top?: string         // Top border
  topMid?: string      // Top-mid junction
  topLeft?: string     // Top-left corner
  topRight?: string    // Top-right corner
  bottom?: string      // Bottom border
  bottomMid?: string   // Bottom-mid junction
  bottomLeft?: string  // Bottom-left corner
  bottomRight?: string // Bottom-right corner
  left?: string        // Left border
  leftMid?: string     // Left-mid junction
  mid?: string         // Mid horizontal
  midMid?: string      // Cross junction
  right?: string       // Right border
  rightMid?: string    // Right-mid junction
  cross?: string       // Center cross
}

TypeScript

Full TypeScript support:

import { createTable, TableOptions, TableData, RichCell } from 'cli-table-modern'

const options: TableOptions = {
  head: ['Name', 'Value'],
  colAligns: ['left', 'right'],
  style: {
    head: ['cyan', 'bold'],
    border: ['gray']
  }
}

const data: TableData = [
  ['Item 1', '100'],
  ['Item 2', '200']
]

const table = createTable(data, options)

// Rich cell with colspan
const richCell: RichCell = {
  content: 'Spanned Cell',
  colSpan: 2,
  style: { color: 'green' }
}

Comparison

Feature	cli-table3	table	cli-table-modern
TypeScript	Partial	Yes	Full
ESM	Yes	Yes	Native
Dependencies	1	0	0
Size	15KB	8KB	~3KB
Colors	Limited	No	ANSI + Hex
Colspan/Rowsspan	Yes	No	Yes

License

MIT