Make python code blocks format their results as Org tables

Question

The context

In #+BEGIN_SRC code blocks whose language is cpp or sh, the tab character is used as a delimiter for cells when using the :results table header argument (see examples below)

#+begin_src cpp :results replace output table
#include <iostream>

int main() {
  std::cout << "a\ta\nbbbbb\tbbbbb" << std::endl;
  return 0;
}
#+end_src

#+RESULTS:
| a     | a     |
| bbbbb | bbbbb |

#+begin_src sh :results replace output table
printf "%s\t%s\n" "a" "a" "bbbbbb" "bbbbbb"
#+end_src

#+RESULTS:
| a      | a      |
| bbbbbb | bbbbbb |

However, this same behavior is not present in python code blocks (see below)

#+begin_src python :results replace output table
print("a\ta\nbbbbb\tbbbbb")
#+end_src

#+RESULTS:
: a a
: bbbbb bbbbb

The question

How can I make the output of python code blocks be displayed as Org tables. Isn't using those header arguments and make the output contain tab characters enough for the #+RESULTS to be formatted as an Org table?

Answer 1

You can output formatted org tables by returning a list of lists as follows (notice no :results output):

#+begin_src python :results replace table
return (('a', 'a'), None, ('bbbbb', 'bbbbb'))
#+end_src

#+RESULTS:
| a     | a     |
|-------+-------|
| bbbbb | bbbbb |

a None row creates a separator line.

Here are some other examples using :results output

#+BEGIN_SRC python :results output table
print([['Number', 'Number * 10'], None, [1, 10], [2, 20]])
#+END_SRC

#+RESULTS:
| Number | Number * 10 |
|--------+-------------|
|      1 |          10 |
|      2 |          20 |

#+BEGIN_SRC python :results value table
return [['Number', 'Number * 10'], None, [1, 10], [2, 20]]
#+END_SRC

#+RESULTS:
| Number | Number * 10 |
|--------+-------------|
|      1 |          10 |
|      2 |          20 |

Note that when using :results output, a single print is included in the #+RESULTS code block.

#+BEGIN_SRC python :results output table
for i in range(5):
  print([i, i**10])
#+END_SRC

#+RESULTS:
| 0 | 0 |