How To: Best way to draw table in console app (C#)

Use String.Format with alignment values.

For example:

String.Format("|{0,5}|{1,5}|{2,5}|{3,5}|", arg0, arg1, arg2, arg3);

To create one formatted row.

You could do something like the following:

static int tableWidth = 73;

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    Console.Clear();
    PrintLine();
    PrintRow("Column 1", "Column 2", "Column 3", "Column 4");
    PrintLine();
    PrintRow("", "", "", "");
    PrintRow("", "", "", "");
    PrintLine();
    Console.ReadLine();
}

static void PrintLine()
{
    Console.WriteLine(new string('-', tableWidth));
}

static void PrintRow(params string[] columns)
{
    int width = (tableWidth - columns.Length) / columns.Length;
    string row = "|";

    foreach (string column in columns)
    {
        row += AlignCentre(column, width) + "|";
    }

    Console.WriteLine(row);
}

static string AlignCentre(string text, int width)
{
    text = text.Length > width ? text.Substring(0, width - 3) + "..." : text;

    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(text))
    {
        return new string(' ', width);
    }
    else
    {
        return text.PadRight(width - (width - text.Length) / 2).PadLeft(width);
    }
}

I have a project on GitHub that you can use

https://github.com/BrunoVT1992/ConsoleTable

You can use it like this:

var table = new Table();

table.SetHeaders("Name", "Date", "Number");

for (int i = 0; i <= 10; i++)
{
    if (i % 2 == 0)
        table.AddRow($"name {i}", DateTime.Now.AddDays(-i).ToLongDateString(), i.ToString());
    else
        table.AddRow($"long name {i}", DateTime.Now.AddDays(-i).ToLongDateString(), (i * 5000).ToString());
}

Console.WriteLine(table.ToString());

It will give this result:

In case if this helps someone, this is a simple class I wrote for my need. You can change it easily to fit your needs.

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

namespace Utilities
{
    public class TablePrinter
    {
        private readonly string[] titles;
        private readonly List<int> lengths;
        private readonly List<string[]> rows = new List<string[]>();

        public TablePrinter(params string[] titles)
        {
            this.titles = titles;
            lengths = titles.Select(t => t.Length).ToList();
        }

        public void AddRow(params object[] row)
        {
            if (row.Length != titles.Length)
            {
                throw new System.Exception($"Added row length [{row.Length}] is not equal to title row length [{titles.Length}]");
            }
            rows.Add(row.Select(o => o.ToString()).ToArray());
            for (int i = 0; i < titles.Length; i++)
            {
                if (rows.Last()[i].Length > lengths[i])
                {
                    lengths[i] = rows.Last()[i].Length;
                }
            }
        }

        public void Print()
        {
            lengths.ForEach(l => System.Console.Write("+-" + new string('-', l) + '-'));
            System.Console.WriteLine("+");

            string line = "";
            for (int i = 0; i < titles.Length; i++)
            {
                line += "| " + titles[i].PadRight(lengths[i]) + ' ';
            }
            System.Console.WriteLine(line + "|");

            lengths.ForEach(l => System.Console.Write("+-" + new string('-', l) + '-'));
            System.Console.WriteLine("+");

            foreach (var row in rows)
            {
                line = "";
                for (int i = 0; i < row.Length; i++)
                {
                    if (int.TryParse(row[i], out int n))
                    {
                        line += "| " + row[i].PadLeft(lengths[i]) + ' ';  // numbers are padded to the left
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        line += "| " + row[i].PadRight(lengths[i]) + ' ';
                    }
                }
                System.Console.WriteLine(line + "|");
            }

            lengths.ForEach(l => System.Console.Write("+-" + new string('-', l) + '-'));
            System.Console.WriteLine("+");
        }
    }
}

Sample usage:

var t = new TablePrinter("id", "Column A", "Column B");
t.AddRow(1, "Val A1", "Val B1");
t.AddRow(2, "Val A2", "Val B2");
t.AddRow(100, "Val A100", "Val B100");
t.Print();

Output:

+-----+----------+----------+
| id  | Column A | Column B |
+-----+----------+----------+
|   1 | Val A1   | Val B1   |
|   2 | Val A2   | Val B2   |
| 100 | Val A100 | Val B100 |
+-----+----------+----------+

Spectre.Console can do this.

Example:

Simple usage:

// Create a table
var table = new Table();

// Add some columns
table.AddColumn("Foo");
table.AddColumn(new TableColumn("Bar").Centered());

// Add some rows
table.AddRow("Baz", "[green]Qux[/]");
table.AddRow(new Markup("[blue]Corgi[/]"), new Panel("Waldo"));

// Render the table to the console
AnsiConsole.Render(table);

I offer my choice:

https://github.com/Grizzly-pride/Console_Menu_Tools.git

MenuBuilder menuTable = new(1, 60, 3, 1, true)
{    ItemsMenu = new()
     {
          myTable.AddTopLine(),
          myTable.AddHeader(),
          myTable.AddMiddleLine(),
          myTable.AddRow("The Witcher 3", "action/RPG", "05.02.2013"),
          myTable.AddRow("Diablo 2", "RPG", "05.07.2002"),
          myTable.AddRow("Warcraft 3", "TBS", "29.06.2000"),
          myTable.AddRow("Quake 2", "Shooter", "18.02.1997"),
          myTable.AddRow("Grand Theft Auto: Vice City", "action-adventure", 
          "27.10.2002"),
          myTable.AddEndLine(),
     },
     PointerColor = ConsoleColor.Yellow,
     ItemColor = ConsoleColor.Green
 };

 menuTable.SetCursorVisible(false);
 int selectRow = menuTable.RunMenu();

 Console.WriteLine($"\n\n -> Selected: {selectRow}");

enter image description here

Extension to @grampa answer. Now table is centered aligned. with extra padding added from both end.

public class TablePrinter
{
    const string TOP_LEFT_JOINT = "┌";
    const string TOP_RIGHT_JOINT = "┐";
    const string BOTTOM_LEFT_JOINT = "└";
    const string BOTTOM_RIGHT_JOINT = "┘";
    const string TOP_JOINT = "┬";
    const string BOTTOM_JOINT = "┴";
    const string LEFT_JOINT = "├";
    const string JOINT = "┼";
    const string RIGHT_JOINT = "┤";
    const char HORIZONTAL_LINE = '─';
    const char PADDING = ' ';
    const string VERTICAL_LINE = "│";

    private static int[] GetMaxCellWidths(List<string[]> table)
    {
        int maximumCells = 0;
        foreach (Array row in table)
        {
            if (row.Length > maximumCells)
                maximumCells = row.Length;
        }

        int[] maximumCellWidths = new int[maximumCells];
        for (int i = 0; i < maximumCellWidths.Length; i++)
            maximumCellWidths[i] = 0;

        foreach (Array row in table)
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < row.Length; i++)
            {
                if (row.GetValue(i).ToString().Length > maximumCellWidths[i])
                    maximumCellWidths[i] = row.GetValue(i).ToString().Length +2;
            }
        }

        return maximumCellWidths;
    }

    public static string GetDataInTableFormat(List<string[]> table)
    {
        StringBuilder formattedTable = new StringBuilder();
        Array nextRow = table.FirstOrDefault();
        Array previousRow = table.FirstOrDefault();

        if (table == null || nextRow == null)
            return String.Empty;

        // FIRST LINE:
        int[] maximumCellWidths = GetMaxCellWidths(table);
        for (int i = 0; i < nextRow.Length; i++)
        {
            if (i == 0 && i == nextRow.Length - 1)
                formattedTable.Append(String.Format("{0}{1}{2}", TOP_LEFT_JOINT, String.Empty.PadLeft(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE).PadRight(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE), TOP_RIGHT_JOINT));
            else if (i == 0)
                formattedTable.Append(String.Format("{0}{1}", TOP_LEFT_JOINT, String.Empty.PadLeft(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE).PadRight(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE)));
            else if (i == nextRow.Length - 1)
                formattedTable.AppendLine(String.Format("{0}{1}{2}", TOP_JOINT, String.Empty.PadLeft(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE).PadRight(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE), TOP_RIGHT_JOINT));
            else
                formattedTable.Append(String.Format("{0}{1}", TOP_JOINT, String.Empty.PadLeft(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE).PadRight(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE)));
        }

        int rowIndex = 0;
        int lastRowIndex = table.Count - 1;
        foreach (Array thisRow in table)
        {
            // LINE WITH VALUES:
            int cellIndex = 0;
            int lastCellIndex = thisRow.Length - 1;
            foreach (object thisCell in thisRow)
            {
                string thisValue = String.Format("{0}{1}{2}", String.Empty.PadLeft((maximumCellWidths[cellIndex] - thisCell.ToString().Length)/ 2),thisCell.ToString(),String.Empty.PadRight(((maximumCellWidths[cellIndex] - thisCell.ToString().Length + 1) / 2)));

                if (cellIndex == 0 && cellIndex == lastCellIndex)
                    formattedTable.AppendLine(String.Format("{0}{1}{2}", VERTICAL_LINE, thisValue, VERTICAL_LINE));
                else if (cellIndex == 0)
                    formattedTable.Append(String.Format("{0}{1}", VERTICAL_LINE, thisValue));
                else if (cellIndex == lastCellIndex)
                    formattedTable.AppendLine(String.Format("{0}{1}{2}", VERTICAL_LINE, thisValue, VERTICAL_LINE));
                else
                    formattedTable.Append(String.Format("{0}{1}", VERTICAL_LINE, thisValue));

                cellIndex++;
            }

            previousRow = thisRow;

            // SEPARATING LINE:
            if (rowIndex != lastRowIndex)
            {
                nextRow = table[rowIndex + 1];

                int maximumCells = Math.Max(previousRow.Length, nextRow.Length);
                for (int i = 0; i < maximumCells; i++)
                {
                    if (i == 0 && i == maximumCells - 1)
                    {
                        formattedTable.Append(String.Format("{0}{1}{2}", LEFT_JOINT, String.Empty.PadLeft(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE), RIGHT_JOINT));
                    }
                    else if (i == 0)
                    {
                        formattedTable.Append(String.Format("{0}{1}", LEFT_JOINT, String.Empty.PadLeft(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE)));
                    }
                    else if (i == maximumCells - 1)
                    {
                        if (i > previousRow.Length)
                            formattedTable.AppendLine(String.Format("{0}{1}{2}", TOP_JOINT, String.Empty.PadLeft(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE).PadRight(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE), TOP_RIGHT_JOINT));
                        else if (i > nextRow.Length)
                            formattedTable.AppendLine(String.Format("{0}{1}{2}", BOTTOM_JOINT, String.Empty.PadLeft(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE).PadRight(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE), BOTTOM_RIGHT_JOINT));
                        else if (i > previousRow.Length - 1)
                            formattedTable.AppendLine(String.Format("{0}{1}{2}", JOINT, String.Empty.PadLeft(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE).PadRight(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE), TOP_RIGHT_JOINT));
                        else if (i > nextRow.Length - 1)
                            formattedTable.AppendLine(String.Format("{0}{1}{2}", JOINT, String.Empty.PadLeft(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE).PadRight((maximumCellWidths[i]), HORIZONTAL_LINE), BOTTOM_RIGHT_JOINT));
                        else
                            formattedTable.AppendLine(String.Format("{0}{1}{2}", JOINT, String.Empty.PadLeft(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE).PadRight((maximumCellWidths[i]), HORIZONTAL_LINE), RIGHT_JOINT));
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        if (i > previousRow.Length)
                            formattedTable.Append(String.Format("{0}{1}", TOP_JOINT, String.Empty.PadLeft(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE).PadRight(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE)));
                        else if (i > nextRow.Length)
                            formattedTable.Append(String.Format("{0}{1}", BOTTOM_JOINT, String.Empty.PadLeft(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE).PadRight(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE)));
                        else
                            formattedTable.Append(String.Format("{0}{1}", JOINT, String.Empty.PadLeft(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE).PadRight(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE)));
                    }
                }
            }

            rowIndex++;
        }

        // LAST LINE:
        for (int i = 0; i < previousRow.Length; i++)
        {
            if (i == 0)
                formattedTable.Append(String.Format("{0}{1}", BOTTOM_LEFT_JOINT, String.Empty.PadLeft(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE)));
            else if (i == previousRow.Length - 1)
                formattedTable.AppendLine(String.Format("{0}{1}{2}", BOTTOM_JOINT, String.Empty.PadLeft(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE), BOTTOM_RIGHT_JOINT));
            else
                formattedTable.Append(String.Format("{0}{1}", BOTTOM_JOINT, String.Empty.PadLeft(maximumCellWidths[i], HORIZONTAL_LINE)));
        }

        return formattedTable.ToString();
    }
}

Output is well formatted and looking so beautiful

┌─────────┬───────────┬───────────┬────────────┬──────────┬────────┐
│ Root Id │ HotelRate │ percentan │ RightValue │ Occupied │ Closed │
├─────────┼───────────┼───────────┼────────────┼──────────┼────────┤
│  3034   │    100    │ 40.816306 │     15     │    -0    │   -0   │
├─────────┼───────────┼───────────┼────────────┼──────────┼────────┤
│  3035   │    100    │ 16.666666 │     0      │    -0    │   45   │
├─────────┼───────────┼───────────┼────────────┼──────────┼────────┤
│  3036   │    100    │ 44.44444  │     0      │    -0    │   30   │
└─────────┴───────────┴───────────┴────────────┴──────────┴────────┘

I would use string interpolation by adding $, like following example:

$"|{arg0,5}|{arg1,5}|{arg2,5}|{arg3,5}|";

Put that in a simple example:

----------------------------------
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 |
----------------------------------
|Left11    |        12|        13|
|Left21    |        22|        23|
|Left31    |        32|        33|
|Left41    |        42|        43|

Here is the code:

var list = new List<Data>()
{
    new() {S1 = "Left11", S2 = "12", S3 = "13"},
    new() {S1 = "Left21", S2 = "22", S3 = "23"},
    new() {S1 = "Left31", S2 = "32", S3 = "33"},
    new() {S1 = "Left41", S2 = "42", S3 = "43"}
};

var lineSep = "----------------------------------";
var header = $"|{" Column 1 ",10}|{" Column 2 ",10}|{" Column 3 ",10}|";
Console.WriteLine(lineSep);
Console.WriteLine(header);
Console.WriteLine(lineSep);

foreach (var data in list)
{
    var line = $"|{data.S1,-10}|{data.S2,10}|{data.S3,10}|";
    Console.WriteLine(line);
}


class Data
{
    public string S1 { get; set; }
    public string S2 { get; set; }
    public string S3 { get; set; }
}