Python function to print a two-column table from a dictionary

Question

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I'm currently learning Python for a masters and am trying to improve the best I can, as I'll need to know how to code in my future career.

I currently have a function that builds a table from a dictionary, no matter how long the characters of either the keys or values are.

However, I'm trying to get better and I'm sure there's a more "Pythonic" way to write this (ie a more simple way). This is just what I was able to come to with my limited knowledge.

def salaryTable(itemsDict):
    
    lengthRight=max( [ len(k) for k,v in itemsDict.items() ] )
    lengthLeft=max( [ len(str(v)) for k,v in itemsDict.items() ] )
    
    print( "Major".ljust(lengthRight+7) + "Salary".rjust(lengthLeft+7) )
    print( '-' * (lengthRight+lengthLeft+14) )
    
    for k,v in itemsDict.items():
        print( k.ljust(lengthRight+7,'.') + str(v).rjust(lengthLeft+7) )

And here's the two dictionaries I used to test both left and right:

# what it produces when keys or values in the dictionary are longer than the parameter's # leftWidth and rightWidth

majors={'English Composition':45000,
        'Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Maritime Mechanics':75000,
        'Applied Math with a concentration in Computer Science':80000}



# testing on a dictionary with a long value

majors2={'English Composition':45000,
        'Mechanical Engineering':75000,
        'Applied Math':"$100,000 thousand dollars per year USD"}
```

Answer 1

Identifiers

PEP8 recommends using snake_case for variables and functions, not camelCase.

It should be salary_table , length_right and items_dict . Besides, do you really need _dict in items_dict ?

Are you sure lengthLeft and lengthRight are proper names?

It looks strange that lengthRight is the width of the left column; maybe it has something with the content of the column, but width_left looks better to me.

Max works with any iterator, not only list

width_left = max( len(k) for k,v in items_dict.items() )

works as well, and doesn't create a list.

You can iterate over keys of dict without items()

width_left = max( len(k) for k in items_dict )

You can go further and use max(map(len, itemsDict)) , but this is pythonic enough for me.

If the variable is not used, point this out with _

width_right = max( len(str(v)) for _, v in items_dict.items() )

But it is better to

Use .values(), if you don't need keys

width_right = max( len(str(v)) for v in items_dict.values() )

Avoid "magic numbers" (constants without explanation)

Both lengths are added with 7; maybe it is better to add it at once and name it?

MINIMAL_WIDTH = 7
width_left = max( len(k) for k in items_dict ) + MINIMAL_WIDTH
width_right = max( len(str(v)) for v in items_dict.values() ) + MINIMAL_WIDTH

F-strings are usually more readable

print(f"{k:.<{length_right}}{v:>{length_right}}")

All together

def salary_table(items):
    MINIMAL_WIDTH = 7
    width_left  = MINIMAL_WIDTH + max( len(k) for k in items )
    width_right = MINIMAL_WIDTH + max( len(str(v)) for v in items.values() )

    print( f"{'Major':<{width_left}}{'Salary':>{width_right}}" )
    print( '-' * (width_left + width_right) )

    for k, v in items.items():
        print( f"{k:.<{width_left}}{v:>{width_right}}" )

I don't know anything about the nature of keys and values; according to values given it can be better to rename k and v into name and price , and items into books .

Alternatives

Pay attention to tabulate . Maybe you better use it instead of inventing the wheel? There are also PrettyTable and texttable .