.. include:: references.txt

.. _astropy-table:

*****************************
Data Tables (`astropy.table`)
*****************************

Introduction
============

`astropy.table` provides functionality for storing and manipulating
heterogenous tables of data in a way that is familiar to `numpy` users.  A few
notable features of this package are:

* Initialize a table from a wide variety of input data structures and types.
* Modify a table by adding or removing columns, changing column names,
  or adding new rows of data.
* Handle tables containing missing values.
* Include table and column metadata as flexible data structures.
* Specify a description, units and output formatting for columns.
* Interactively scroll through long tables similar to using ``more``.
* Create a new table by selecting rows or columns from a table.
* Full support for multidimensional columns.
* Methods for :ref:`read_write_tables` to files

Currently `astropy.table` is used when reading an ASCII table using
`astropy.io.ascii`.  Future releases of AstroPy are expected to use
the |Table| class for other subpackages such as `astropy.io.votable`
and `astropy.io.fits`.

Getting Started
===============

The basic workflow for creating a table, accessing table elements,
and modifying the table is shown below.  These examples show a very simple
case, while the full `astropy.table` documentation is available from the
:ref:`using_astropy_table` section.

First create a simple table with three columns of data named ``a``, ``b``,
and ``c``.  These columns have integer, float, and string values respectively::

  >>> from astropy.table import Table, Column
  >>> a = [1, 4, 5]
  >>> b = [2.0, 5.0, 8.2]
  >>> c = ['x', 'y', 'z']
  >>> t = Table([a, b, c], names=('a', 'b', 'c'), meta={'name': 'first table'})

There are a few ways to examine the table.  You can get detailed information
about the table values and column definitions as follows::

  >>> t
  <Table rows=3 names=('a','b','c')>
  array([(1, 2.0, 'x'), (4, 5.0, 'y'), (5, 8.2, 'z')],
        dtype=[('a', '<i8'), ('b', '<f8'), ('c', '|S1')])

From within the IPython notebook, the table is displayed as a formatted HTML table:

.. image:: table_repr_html.png

If you print the table (either from the noteboook or in a text console session) then a
formatted version appears::

  >>> print(t)
    a   b   c
  --- --- ---
    1 2.0   x
    4 5.0   y
    5 8.2   z

For a long table you can scroll up and down through the table one page at
time::

  >>> t.more()


Now examine some high-level information about the table::

  >>> t.colnames
  ['a', 'b', 'c']
  >>> len(t)
  3
  >>> t.meta
  {'name': 'first table'}

Access the data by column or row using familiar `numpy` structured array syntax::

  >>> t['a']       # Column 'a'
  <Column name='a' units=None format=None description=None>
  array([1, 4, 5])

  >>> t['a'][1]    # Row 1 of column 'a'
  4

  >>> t[1]         # Row obj for with row 1 values
  <Row 1 of table
   values=(4, 5.0, 'y')
   dtype=[('a', '<i8'), ('b', '<f8'), ('c', '|S1')]>

  >>> t[1]['a']    # Column 'a' of row 1
  4

One can retreive a subset of a table by rows (using a slice) or
columns (using column names), where the subset is returned as a new table::

  >>> print(t[0:2])      # Table object with rows 0 and 1
   a   b   c
  --- --- ---
    1 2.0   x
    4 5.0   y

  >>> t['a', 'c']  # Table with cols 'a', 'c'
   a   c
  --- ---
    1   x
    4   y
    5   z

Modifying table values in place is flexible and works as one would expect::

  >>> t['a'] = [-1, -2, -3]       # Set all column values
  >>> t['a'][2] = 30              # Set row 2 of column 'a'
  >>> t[1] = (8, 9.0, "W")        # Set all row values
  >>> t[1]['b'] = -9              # Set column 'b' of row 1
  >>> t[0:2]['b'] = 100.0         # Set column 'b' of rows 0 and 1
  >>> print(t)
   a    b    c
  --- ----- ---
   -1 100.0   x
    8 100.0   W
   30   8.2   z

Add, remove, and rename columns with the following::

  >>> t.add_column(Column(data=[1, 2, 3], name='d')))
  >>> t.remove_column('c')
  >>> t.rename_column('a', 'A')
  >>> t.colnames
  ['A', 'b', 'd']

Adding a new row of data to the table is as follows::

  >>> t.add_row([-8, -9, 10])
  >>> len(t)
  4

Lastly, one can create a table with support for missing values, for example by setting
``masked=True``::

  >>> t = Table([a, b, c], names=('a', 'b', 'c'), masked=True)
  >>> t['a'].mask = [True, True, False]
  >>> t
  <Table rows=3 names=('a','b','c')>
  masked_array(data = [(--, 2.0, 'x') (--, 5.0, 'y') (5, 8.2, 'z')],
               mask = [(True, False, False) (True, False, False) (False, False, False)],
         fill_value = (999999, 1e+20, 'N'),
              dtype = [('a', '<i8'), ('b', '<f8'), ('c', '|S1')])
  
  >>> print(t)
   a   b   c 
  --- --- ---
   -- 2.0   x
   -- 5.0   y
    5 8.2   z

.. _using_astropy_table:

Using `table`
=============

The details of using `astropy.table` are provided in the following sections:

.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 2

   construct_table.rst
   access_table.rst
   modify_table.rst
   masking.rst
   io.rst

Reference/API
=============

.. automodapi:: astropy.table