Test2::Util::Table - Format a header and rows into a table


This is used by some failing tests to provide diagnostics about what has gone wrong. This module is able to generic format rows of data into tables.


    use Test2::Util::Table qw/table/;

    my @table = table(
        max_width => 80,
        collapse => 1, # Do not show empty columns
        header => [ 'name', 'age', 'hair color' ],
        rows => [
            [ 'Fred Flinstone',  2000000, 'black' ],
            [ 'Wilma Flinstone', 1999995, 'red' ],

    # The @table array contains each line of the table, no newlines added.
    say $_ for @table;

This prints a table like this:

    | name            | age     | hair color |
    | Fred Flinstone  | 2000000 | black      |
    | Wilma Flinstone | 1999995 | red        |


@rows = table(...)

The function returns a list of lines, lines do not have the newline \n character appended.


header => [ ... ]

If you want a header specify it here. This takes an arrayref with each columns heading.

rows => [ [...], [...], ... ]

This should be an arrayref containing an arrayref per row.

collapse => $bool

Use this if you want to hide empty columns, that is any column that has no data in any row. Having a header for the column will not effect collapse.

max_width => $num

Set the maximum width of the table, the table may not be this big, but it will be no bigger. If none is specified it will attempt to find the width of your terminal and use that, otherwise it falls back to 80.

sanitize => $bool

This will sanitize all the data in the table such that newlines, control characters, and all whitespace except for ASCII 20 ' ' are replaced with escape sequences. This prevents newlines, tabs, and similar whitespace from disrupting the table.

Note: newlines are marked as '\n', but a newline is also inserted into the data so that it typically displays in a way that is useful to humans.


    my $field = "foo\nbar\nbaz\n";

    print join "\n" => table(
        sanitize => 1,
        rows => [
            [$field,      'col2'     ],
            ['row2 col1', 'row2 col2']


    | foo\n           | col2      |
    | bar\n           |           |
    | baz\n           |           |
    |                 |           |
    | row2 col1       | row2 col2 |

So it marks the newlines by inserting the escape sequence, but it also shows the data across as many lines as it would normally display.

mark_tail => $bool

This will replace the last whitespace character of any trailing whitespace with its escape sequence. This makes it easier to notice trailing whitespace when comparing values.

my $cols = term_size()

Attempts to find the width in columns (characters) of the current terminal. Returns 80 as a safe bet if it cannot find it another way. This is most accurate if Term::ReadKey is installed.


Some unicode characters, such as (U+5A67) are wider than others. These will render just fine if you use utf8; as necessary, and Unicode::GCString is installed, however if the module is not installed there will be anomalies in the table:

    | a   | b   | c |
    | 婧 | x   | y |
    | x   | y   | z |
    | x   | 婧 | z |


The source code repository for Test2-Suite can be found at


Chad Granum <>


Chad Granum <>


Copyright 2016 Chad Granum <>.
