DataTable¶

A widget to display text in a table. This includes the ability to update data, use a cursor to navigate data, respond to mouse clicks, delete rows or columns, and individually render each cell as a Rich Text renderable. DataTable provides an efficiently displayed and updated table capable for most applications.

Applications may have custom rules for formatting, numbers, repopulating tables after searching or filtering, and responding to selections. The widget emits events to interface with custom logic.

Focusable
Container

Guide¶

Adding data¶

The following example shows how to fill a table with data. First, we use add_columns to include the lane, swimmer, country, and time columns in the table. After that, we use the add_rows method to insert the rows into the table.

Outputdata_table.py

from textual.app import App, ComposeResult
from textual.widgets import DataTable

ROWS = [
    ("lane", "swimmer", "country", "time"),
    (4, "Joseph Schooling", "Singapore", 50.39),
    (2, "Michael Phelps", "United States", 51.14),
    (5, "Chad le Clos", "South Africa", 51.14),
    (6, "László Cseh", "Hungary", 51.14),
    (3, "Li Zhuhao", "China", 51.26),
    (8, "Mehdy Metella", "France", 51.58),
    (7, "Tom Shields", "United States", 51.73),
    (1, "Aleksandr Sadovnikov", "Russia", 51.84),
    (10, "Darren Burns", "Scotland", 51.84),
]


class TableApp(App):
    def compose(self) -> ComposeResult:
        yield DataTable()

    def on_mount(self) -> None:
        table = self.query_one(DataTable)
        table.add_columns(*ROWS[0])
        table.add_rows(ROWS[1:])


app = TableApp()
if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run()

To add a single row or column use add_row and add_column, respectively.

Styling and justifying cells¶

Cells can contain more than just plain strings - Rich renderables such as Text are also supported. Text objects provide an easy way to style and justify cell content:

Outputdata_table_renderables.py

from rich.text import Text

from textual.app import App, ComposeResult
from textual.widgets import DataTable

ROWS = [
    ("lane", "swimmer", "country", "time"),
    (4, "Joseph Schooling", "Singapore", 50.39),
    (2, "Michael Phelps", "United States", 51.14),
    (5, "Chad le Clos", "South Africa", 51.14),
    (6, "László Cseh", "Hungary", 51.14),
    (3, "Li Zhuhao", "China", 51.26),
    (8, "Mehdy Metella", "France", 51.58),
    (7, "Tom Shields", "United States", 51.73),
    (1, "Aleksandr Sadovnikov", "Russia", 51.84),
    (10, "Darren Burns", "Scotland", 51.84),
]


class TableApp(App):
    def compose(self) -> ComposeResult:
        yield DataTable()

    def on_mount(self) -> None:
        table = self.query_one(DataTable)
        table.add_columns(*ROWS[0])
        for row in ROWS[1:]:
            # Adding styled and justified `Text` objects instead of plain strings.
            styled_row = [
                Text(str(cell), style="italic #03AC13", justify="right") for cell in row
            ]
            table.add_row(*styled_row)


app = TableApp()
if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run()

Keys¶

When adding a row to the table, you can supply a key to add_row. A key is a unique identifier for that row. If you don't supply a key, Textual will generate one for you and return it from add_row. This key can later be used to reference the row, regardless of its current position in the table.

When working with data from a database, for example, you may wish to set the row key to the primary key of the data to ensure uniqueness. The method add_column also accepts a key argument and works similarly.

Keys are important because cells in a data table can change location due to factors like row deletion and sorting. Thus, using keys instead of coordinates allows us to refer to data without worrying about its current location in the table.

If you want to change the table based solely on coordinates, you may need to convert that coordinate to a cell key first using the coordinate_to_cell_key method.

Cursors¶

A cursor allows navigating within a table with the keyboard or mouse. There are four cursor types: "cell" (the default), "row", "column", and "none".

Change the cursor type by assigning to the cursor_type reactive attribute.
The coordinate of the cursor is exposed via the cursor_coordinate reactive attribute.

Using the keyboard, arrow keys, Page Up, Page Down, Home and End move the cursor highlight, emitting a CellHighlighted message, then enter selects the cell, emitting a CellSelected message. If the cursor_type is row, then RowHighlighted and RowSelected are emitted, similarly for ColumnHighlighted and ColumnSelected.

When moving the mouse over the table, a MouseMove event is emitted, the cell hovered over is styled, and the hover_coordinate reactive attribute is updated. Clicking the mouse then emits the CellHighlighted and