3.2.3 ASCII

Tables can be written using a format which is compatible with the ASCII input format. It writes as plainly as possible, so should stand a good chance of being comprehensible to other programs which require some sort of plain text rendition of a table.

The first line is a comment (starting with a "#" character) which names the columns, and an attempt is made to line up data in columns using spaces. Here is an example of a short table written in this format:

   # index Species  Name   Legs Height Mammal
     1     pig      Bland  4    0.8    true  
     2     cow      Daisy  4    2.0    true  
     3     goldfish Dobbin 0    0.05   false 
     4     ant      ""     6    0.0010 false 
     5     ant      ""     6    0.0010 false 
     6     human    Mark   2    1.9    true