kbarbel640-del Telegram Tables
Format tabular data as ASCII box-drawing tables that render correctly in Telegram code blocks.
When to Use
- Sending structured data to Telegram
- Any table that needs to display in a monospace code block
- Data with variable column widths
- Multi-row cells with text wrapping
Quick Start
{baseDir}/scripts/ascii-table.py "Col1|Col2" "row1|data1" "row2|data2"
Wrap output in triple backticks when sending to Telegram.
Usage
# Basic 2-column table
ascii-table "Name|Value" "CPU|95%" "Memory|4.2GB"
# 3+ columns
ascii-table "Item|Status|Priority" "Server|Online|High" "Database|Syncing|Medium"
# Custom max width (default 58)
ascii-table --width 45 "Col1|Col2" "data|data"
# Mobile-friendly (ASCII chars, 48 char width)
ascii-table --mobile "Task|Status" "Deploy|Done" "Test|Pending"
# Long text auto-wraps
ascii-table "Key|Description" "API|A very long description that will automatically wrap to fit the column width"
Features
- Smart column sizing: Columns sized based on content, not fixed widths
- Auto-wrapping: Long text wraps within cells
- Multi-column: Supports arbitrary number of columns
- Proper padding: All rows align correctly
- Desktop mode (default): Unicode box-drawing, 58 chars max
- Mobile mode (
--mobile): ASCII chars, 48 chars max
Desktop vs Mobile
Unicode box-drawing characters (│─┌┐) render at inconsistent widths on mobile Telegram, breaking alignment. Use --mobile for mobile recipients — it uses plain ASCII (|, -, +) which renders reliably.
Output Example
┌──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐
│ Server │ Status │ Uptime │
├──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤
│ web-01 │ Online │ 14d 3h │
├──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤
│ db-01 │ Syncing │ 2d 12h │
└──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘
Output Example (with wrapping)
Long text auto-wraps within cells while maintaining alignment:
┌─────────┬────────┬──────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Task │ Status │ Notes │
├─────────┼────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Deploy │ Done │ Rolled out to prod successfully │
│ API │ │ │
├─────────┼────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Fix │ In Pro │ Waiting on OAuth token refresh issue │
│ auth │ gress │ to be resolved by upstream │
│ bug │ │ │
├─────────┼────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Write │ Pendin │ Need input from team │
│ docs │ g │ │
└─────────┴────────┴──────────────────────────────────────┘
Output Example (mobile)
+------------+-------------+--------------------+
| Task | Status | Notes |
+------------+-------------+--------------------+
| Deploy API | Done | Rolled out to prod |
+------------+-------------+--------------------+
| Fix auth | In Progress | OAuth token issue |
+------------+-------------+--------------------+
Limitations
- Long words may split mid-word when wrapping (no hyphenation)
- Emoji characters may cause alignment issues (variable width)
- No right-alignment for numbers (left-aligned only)
- Pipe character
|is the column delimiter (escape with content if needed) - Unicode box-drawing may misalign on mobile (use
--mobileflag)