I can be late for an answer, but here is a simple and general solution
import java.util.ArrayList; import java.util.HashMap; import java.util.List; import java.util.Map; import java.util.UUID; public class TableGenerator { private int PADDING_SIZE = 2; private String NEW_LINE = "\n"; private String TABLE_JOINT_SYMBOL = "+"; private String TABLE_V_SPLIT_SYMBOL = "|"; private String TABLE_H_SPLIT_SYMBOL = "-"; public String generateTable(List<String> headersList, List<List<String>> rowsList,int... overRiddenHeaderHeight) { StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder(); int rowHeight = overRiddenHeaderHeight.length > 0 ? overRiddenHeaderHeight[0] : 1; Map<Integer,Integer> columnMaxWidthMapping = getMaximumWidhtofTable(headersList, rowsList); stringBuilder.append(NEW_LINE); stringBuilder.append(NEW_LINE); createRowLine(stringBuilder, headersList.size(), columnMaxWidthMapping); stringBuilder.append(NEW_LINE); for (int headerIndex = 0; headerIndex < headersList.size(); headerIndex++) { fillCell(stringBuilder, headersList.get(headerIndex), headerIndex, columnMaxWidthMapping); } stringBuilder.append(NEW_LINE); createRowLine(stringBuilder, headersList.size(), columnMaxWidthMapping); for (List<String> row : rowsList) { for (int i = 0; i < rowHeight; i++) { stringBuilder.append(NEW_LINE); } for (int cellIndex = 0; cellIndex < row.size(); cellIndex++) { fillCell(stringBuilder, row.get(cellIndex), cellIndex, columnMaxWidthMapping); } } stringBuilder.append(NEW_LINE); createRowLine(stringBuilder, headersList.size(), columnMaxWidthMapping); stringBuilder.append(NEW_LINE); stringBuilder.append(NEW_LINE); return stringBuilder.toString(); } private void fillSpace(StringBuilder stringBuilder, int length) { for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) { stringBuilder.append(" "); } } private void createRowLine(StringBuilder stringBuilder,int headersListSize, Map<Integer,Integer> columnMaxWidthMapping) { for (int i = 0; i < headersListSize; i++) { if(i == 0) { stringBuilder.append(TABLE_JOINT_SYMBOL); } for (int j = 0; j < columnMaxWidthMapping.get(i) + PADDING_SIZE * 2 ; j++) { stringBuilder.append(TABLE_H_SPLIT_SYMBOL); } stringBuilder.append(TABLE_JOINT_SYMBOL); } } private Map<Integer,Integer> getMaximumWidhtofTable(List<String> headersList, List<List<String>> rowsList) { Map<Integer,Integer> columnMaxWidthMapping = new HashMap<>(); for (int columnIndex = 0; columnIndex < headersList.size(); columnIndex++) { columnMaxWidthMapping.put(columnIndex, 0); } for (int columnIndex = 0; columnIndex < headersList.size(); columnIndex++) { if(headersList.get(columnIndex).length() > columnMaxWidthMapping.get(columnIndex)) { columnMaxWidthMapping.put(columnIndex, headersList.get(columnIndex).length()); } } for (List<String> row : rowsList) { for (int columnIndex = 0; columnIndex < row.size(); columnIndex++) { if(row.get(columnIndex).length() > columnMaxWidthMapping.get(columnIndex)) { columnMaxWidthMapping.put(columnIndex, row.get(columnIndex).length()); } } } for (int columnIndex = 0; columnIndex < headersList.size(); columnIndex++) { if(columnMaxWidthMapping.get(columnIndex) % 2 != 0) { columnMaxWidthMapping.put(columnIndex, columnMaxWidthMapping.get(columnIndex) + 1); } } return columnMaxWidthMapping; } private int getOptimumCellPadding(int cellIndex,int datalength,Map<Integer,Integer> columnMaxWidthMapping,int cellPaddingSize) { if(datalength % 2 != 0) { datalength++; } if(datalength < columnMaxWidthMapping.get(cellIndex)) { cellPaddingSize = cellPaddingSize + (columnMaxWidthMapping.get(cellIndex) - datalength) / 2; } return cellPaddingSize; } private void fillCell(StringBuilder stringBuilder,String cell,int cellIndex,Map<Integer,Integer> columnMaxWidthMapping) { int cellPaddingSize = getOptimumCellPadding(cellIndex, cell.length(), columnMaxWidthMapping, PADDING_SIZE); if(cellIndex == 0) { stringBuilder.append(TABLE_V_SPLIT_SYMBOL); } fillSpace(stringBuilder, cellPaddingSize); stringBuilder.append(cell); if(cell.length() % 2 != 0) { stringBuilder.append(" "); } fillSpace(stringBuilder, cellPaddingSize); stringBuilder.append(TABLE_V_SPLIT_SYMBOL); } public static void main(String[] args) { TableGenerator tableGenerator = new TableGenerator(); List<String> headersList = new ArrayList<>(); headersList.add("Id"); headersList.add("F-Name"); headersList.add("L-Name"); headersList.add("Email"); List<List<String>> rowsList = new ArrayList<>(); for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) { List<String> row = new ArrayList<>(); row.add(UUID.randomUUID().toString()); row.add(UUID.randomUUID().toString()); row.add(UUID.randomUUID().toString()); row.add(UUID.randomUUID().toString()); rowsList.add(row); } System.out.println(tableGenerator.generateTable(headersList, rowsList)); } }
With this kind of conclusion
+----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+ | Id | F-Name | L-Name | Email | +----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+ | 70a56f25-d42a-499c-83ac-50188c45a0ac | aa04285e-c135-46e2-9f90-988bf7796cd0 | ac495ba7-d3c7-463c-8c24-9ffde67324bc | f6b5851b-41e0-4a4e-a237-74f8e0bff9ab | | 6de181ca-919a-4425-a753-78d2de1038ef | c4ba5771-ccee-416e-aebd-ef94b07f4fa2 | 365980cb-e23a-4513-a895-77658f130135 | 69e01da1-078e-4934-afb0-5afd6ee166ac | | f3285f33-5083-4881-a8b4-c8ae10372a6c | 46df25ed-fa0f-42a4-9181-a0528bc593f6 | d24016bf-a03f-424d-9a8f-9a7b7388fd85 | 4b976794-aac1-441e-8bd2-78f5ccbbd653 | | ab799acb-a582-45e7-ba2f-806948967e6c | d019438d-0a75-48bc-977b-9560de4e033e | 8cb2ad11-978b-4a67-a87e-439d0a21ef99 | 2f2d9a39-9d95-4a5a-993f-ceedd5ff9953 | | 78a68c0a-a824-42e8-b8a8-3bdd8a89e773 | 0f030c1b-2069-4c1a-bf7d-f23d1e291d2a | 7f647cb4-a22e-46d2-8c96-0c09981773b1 | 0bc944ef-c1a7-4dd1-9eef-915712035a74 | +----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+