Add a way to display table rows from an iterator

[swissspidy]

WP-CLI can now stream CSV, JSON and (in wp-cli/wp-cli#6425) YAML output from an iterator, so commands like wp post list don't have to hold all items in memory. Tables can't be streamed today, because Table only renders rows that were all added first.

When STDOUT is piped or redirected, which is when large tables are usually output, Table uses the Tabular renderer. That renderer writes tab-separated lines and never uses the column widths, so it could render each row as soon as it's read. This adds an API for that.

API

• Renderer::needsWidths() tells whether a renderer needs the column widths to render a row. It returns true by default, so custom renderers keep working as before, and false for Tabular.
• Table::getDisplayLinesFromRows( iterable $rows ) returns a generator of the lines for the table's rows followed by $rows. The lines are the same as getDisplayLines() after adding the rows.
  • If the renderer doesn't need widths, each row's lines are yielded as soon as the row is read, so the rows don't have to be held in memory.
  • Otherwise, for example with Ascii, the rows are added first and the lines come from getDisplayLines(), as before.
• Table::displayRows( iterable $rows ) writes those lines to STDOUT, like display().

It's a generator rather than only a display method because WP-CLI writes table lines through its own logger (WP_CLI::line()), not Streams::line(). It's a separate method rather than an optional parameter of display() so that subclasses overriding display() keep working.

getDisplayLines() now shares the code for the header, row and footer lines with the new method, so both give the same lines. Its output is unchanged.

The WP-CLI side will use this for --format=table once it's released, falling back to collecting the rows when the method doesn't exist.

Tests

• test_display_lines_from_rows_match_display_lines compares getDisplayLinesFromRows() with getDisplayLines() for both renderers, with:
  • 0, 1 and 3 rows,
  • one row added before and the others passed as an iterator,
  • multi-line and empty values,
  • with and without footers.
• test_display_lines_from_rows_are_yielded_as_rows_are_read_with_tabular_renderer checks that each row's line comes out before the next row is read. It fails if Tabular::needsWidths() returns true.
• test_display_lines_from_rows_are_aligned_with_ascii_renderer checks that Ascii still pads earlier rows to the width of later ones.
• test_renderers_declare_whether_they_need_widths.
• Suites: PHPUnit (104 tests) passes. PHPCS and PHPStan are clean.

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Summary by CodeRabbit

• New Features
  • Tables can now display existing rows alongside additional rows supplied incrementally, with output consistent across table styles.
  • Rows are aligned to accommodate wider content where needed, and table borders and footers appear appropriately for the displayed rows.
  • Generated table rows can also be written directly to an output stream, making it easier to display results as they are processed.

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• lib/cli/Table.php
• tests/Test_Table.php

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Table rendering now accepts additional rows from an iterable. Renderers that need column widths store those rows before rendering; other renderers yield output incrementally. The new displayRows() method writes generated lines to the output stream.

Changes

Table row streaming

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Renderer width requirements lib/cli/table/Renderer.php, lib/cli/table/Tabular.php, tests/Test_Table.php	Renderers declare whether they need column widths. Tests check the values for ASCII and tabular renderers.
Streamed row rendering lib/cli/Table.php, tests/Test_Table.php	Table factors display-line generation into helpers and adds methods to render and display iterable rows. Tests compare output with existing rendering and check incremental reads, footer handling, and ASCII alignment.

Priority: ⬇️ Low

Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~10 minutes

Change: Feature

Suggested reviewers: schlessera, mrsdizzie

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to 73f03

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Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly describes the primary change: adding support for displaying table rows from an iterator.

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Inline comments:
Review comments at @lib/cli/Table.php:
- Line 249: Declare iterable $rows on getDisplayLinesFromRows() at
lib/cli/Table.php lines 249-249, and on displayRows() at lib/cli/Table.php lines
291-291, so both public methods reject non-iterable arguments at the API
boundary.

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• lib/cli/Table.php
• lib/cli/table/Renderer.php
• lib/cli/table/Tabular.php
• tests/Test_Table.php

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