# convert a list into an ASCII table
# (c) 2010 Peter Goodman, all rights reserved.

DEFAULT_TABLE_STYLES = ("|","-","|","-","+"," ")
DEFAULT_TABLE_JUSTIFY = str.ljust
DEFAULT_TABLE_CELL_TO_STR = str

def list_to_table(table, title="", 
    cell_to_str=DEFAULT_TABLE_CELL_TO_STR, 
    justify=DEFAULT_TABLE_JUSTIFY, 
    styles=DEFAULT_TABLE_STYLES):
    """Convert a list into a string that is formatableed to look like a table."""
    
    def make_row_list(row):
        if not isinstance(row, list):
            return [row]
        return row
    
    COL_SEP, ROW_SEP, VERT_BORDER, HOR_BORDER, INTERSECT, PADDING = styles
    
    table = map(make_row_list, table)
    col_range, row_range = xrange(len(zip(*table))), xrange(len(table))
    
    col_max_widths = dict.fromkeys(col_range, 0)
    row_max_heights = dict.fromkeys(row_range, 1)
    cells = { }
    
    # get string representations for each cell
    for r in row_range:
        for c in col_range:
            cells[r, c] = cell_to_str(table[r][c]).splitlines()
    
    # get max row heights and col lengths
    for ((r, c), lines) in cells.items():
        row_max_heights[r] = max(row_max_heights[r], len(lines))
        for line in lines:
            col_max_widths[c] = max(col_max_widths[c], len(line))
    
    # add in extra lines to the cells and justify the cells
    for ((r, c), lines) in cells.items():
        empty = " " * col_max_widths[c]
        for i in xrange(len(lines)):
            lines[i] = justify(lines[i], col_max_widths[c])
        for _ in xrange(len(lines), row_max_heights[r]):
            lines.append(empty)
    
    # make the horizontal line separator
    line_sep = ""
    if len(ROW_SEP) or len(INTERSECT):
        line_sep += VERT_BORDER + ROW_SEP
        for c in col_range:
            if c > 0:
                line_sep += (INTERSECT * len(COL_SEP)) + ROW_SEP
            line_sep += ROW_SEP + (col_max_widths[c] * ROW_SEP)
        line_sep += VERT_BORDER
        line_sep += "\n"
    
    ret = ""
    
    # construct the table
    for r in row_range:
        if r > 0:
            ret += "\n" + line_sep
        for l in xrange(row_max_heights[r]):
            if l > 0:
                ret += PADDING + VERT_BORDER + "\n"
            for c in col_range:
                if c > 0:
                    ret += PADDING + COL_SEP + PADDING
                else:
                    ret += VERT_BORDER + PADDING
                ret += cells[r, c][l]
        ret += " " + VERT_BORDER
    
    header, footer, sep_len = "", "", len(line_sep) - 1
    
    # make the table header and footer
    if len(HOR_BORDER):
        footer = INTERSECT + (HOR_BORDER * (sep_len - 2 * len(INTERSECT))) + INTERSECT
        if len(title):
            header += INTERSECT + (HOR_BORDER * (2 - len(INTERSECT)))
            header += " " + title + " "
            header += HOR_BORDER * (sep_len - len(header) - len(INTERSECT)) 
            header += INTERSECT + "\n"
            header += VERT_BORDER + ((sep_len - 2 * len(VERT_BORDER)) * " ") 
            header += VERT_BORDER
        else:
            header = footer
        header += "\n"
        footer += "\n"
    
    return header + ret + "\n" + footer

def cell_to_str_with_subtables(
    cell_to_str=DEFAULT_TABLE_CELL_TO_STR, 
    justify=DEFAULT_TABLE_JUSTIFY, 
    styles=DEFAULT_TABLE_STYLES):
    """Returns a function to convert a cell to a string. If a cell is a list then it
    treats the cell as a table an prints it as such."""
    
    def to_str(cell):
        if isinstance(cell, list):
            return list_to_table(
                cell,
                cell_to_str=cell_to_str_with_subtables(cell_to_str),
                justify=justify,
                styles=(styles[0], styles[1], "", "", styles[4], styles[5])
            )
        return cell_to_str(cell)
    return to_str

print list_to_table(
    [
        ["a","b","c"],
        [1,[2,3,4],5],
        [[[6,7],[8,9]],10,"11\n12\n13"]
    ], 
    title="Hello World", 
    cell_to_str=cell_to_str_with_subtables(justify=str.rjust)
)

+- Hello World ------+
|                    |
| a       | b   | c  |
|---------+-----+----|
| 1       |  2  | 5  |
|         | --- |    |
|         |  3  |    |
|         | --- |    |
|         |  4  |    |
|---------+-----+----|
|  6 | 7  | 10  | 11 |
| ---+--- |     | 12 |
|  8 | 9  |     | 13 |
+--------------------+