Tables can be written using a format which is compatible with the ASCII input format. It writes as plainly as possible, so should stand a good chance of being comprehensible to other programs which require some sort of plain text rendition of a table.
The first line is a comment (starting with a "
which names the columns, and
an attempt is made to line up data in columns using spaces.
Here is an example of a short table written in this format:
# index Species Name Legs Height Mammal 1 pig Bland 4 0.8 true 2 cow Daisy 4 2.0 true 3 goldfish Dobbin 0 0.05 false 4 ant "" 6 0.0010 false 5 ant "" 6 0.0010 false 6 human Mark 2 1.9 true