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Border Class Overview

The Border class manages all border characters for your table, including corners, lines, and connectors. 
namespace tabular {
  class Border {
    // ... border parts and methods
  };
}

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Pre-defined Border Styles

Tabular provides several built-in border styles for quick customization.

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Modern (Default)

Clean, modern Unicode box-drawing characters: 
table.border(Border::modern());
Characters used:
  • Horizontal: ─ (U+2500)
  • Vertical: │ (U+2502)
  • Corners: ┌ ┐ └ ┘
  • Connectors: ├ ┤ ┬ ┴
  • Intersection: ┼

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Rounded

Softer appearance with rounded corners: 
table.border(Border::rounded());
Characters used:
  • Horizontal: ─ (U+2500)
  • Vertical: │ (U+2502)
  • Corners: ╭ ╮ ╰ ╯
  • Connectors: ├ ┤ ┬ ┴
  • Intersection: ┼

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Heavy

Bold, heavy lines for emphasis: 
table.border(Border::heavy());
Characters used:
  • Horizontal: ━ (U+2501)
  • Vertical: ┃ (U+2503)
  • Corners: ┏ ┓ ┗ ┛
  • Connectors: ┣ ┫ ┳ ┻
  • Intersection: ╋

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Double

Double-line borders: 
table.border(Border::doubled());
Characters used:
  • Horizontal: ═ (U+2550)
  • Vertical: ║ (U+2551)
  • Corners: ╔ ╗ ╚ ╝
  • Connectors: ╠ ╣ ╦ ╩
  • Intersection: ╬

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ASCII Borders

For terminals that don’t support Unicode, the default ASCII border is used: 
Border border; // Default constructor uses ASCII
Characters used:
  • Horizontal: -
  • Vertical: |
  • Corners and connectors: +

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Other Border Styles

// No borders
table.border(Border::none());

// Space borders (invisible but maintains structure)
table.border(Border::blank());

// Filled with a specific character
table.border(Border::filled('*'));

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Custom Border Parts

You can customize individual border components for complete control.

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Border Components

A border consists of 11 different parts:
PartDescriptionPosition
horizontal()Top and bottom lines─────
vertical()Left and right lines│
cornerTopLeft()Top-left corner┌
cornerTopRight()Top-right corner┐
cornerBottomLeft()Bottom-left corner└
cornerBottomRight()Bottom-right corner┘
connectorTop()Column separator (top)┬
connectorBottom()Column separator (bottom)┴
connectorLeft()Row separator (left)├
connectorRight()Row separator (right)┤
intersection()Cross intersection┼

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Setting Border Characters

There are two ways to set border characters: 
Border border;

// Method 1: Direct setter
border.horizontal('=');

// Method 2: Access Part and set glyph
border.horizontal().glyph('=');

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Custom Border Example

Border border;

// Customize specific parts
border.horizontal('=');
border.vertical('‖');
border.cornerTopLeft('◢');
border.cornerTopRight('◣');
border.cornerBottomLeft('◥');
border.cornerBottomRight('◤');

table.border(border);

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Border Coloring

Each border part can be individually colored using foreground and background colors.

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Setting Border Colors

Border border;

// Set foreground color using terminal colors
border.horizontal().fg(Color::Red);

// Set foreground color using RGB
border.horizontal().fg(Rgb{255, 0, 0});

// Set background color
border.horizontal().bg(Color::Green);
border.horizontal().bg(Rgb{0, 255, 0});

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Complete Colored Border Example

Border border = Border::modern();

// Color all horizontal lines red
border.horizontal().fg(Color::BrightRed);

// Color all vertical lines blue
border.vertical().fg(Color::BrightBlue);

// Color corners green
border.cornerTopLeft().fg(Color::BrightGreen);
border.cornerTopRight().fg(Color::BrightGreen);
border.cornerBottomLeft().fg(Color::BrightGreen);
border.cornerBottomRight().fg(Color::BrightGreen);

// Color connectors yellow
border.connectorTop().fg(Color::BrightYellow);
border.connectorBottom().fg(Color::BrightYellow);
border.connectorLeft().fg(Color::BrightYellow);
border.connectorRight().fg(Color::BrightYellow);
border.intersection().fg(Color::BrightYellow);

table.border(border);

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Clearing Border Colors

// Clear foreground color
border.horizontal().clrFg();

// Clear background color
border.horizontal().clrBg();

// Clear both colors
border.horizontal().clr();

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Resetting Borders

Reset the border to default ASCII style: 
border.reset();
Border colors support both terminal colors (like Color::Red) and RGB values (like Rgb{255, 0, 0}). RGB colors may not be supported in all terminal emulators.
When using Unicode border characters, ensure your terminal supports UTF-8 encoding for proper display.

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