Formatting and printing lists with Mathematica scripts

Question

I'm just starting out with Mathematica and I'm using MathematicaScript rather than the GUI. However, I'm having trouble formatting a list when printing it.

Suppose I have a list and I want to print it using Column:

list = {a, b, c};
Print[Column[list]];

Calling this outputs Column[{a, b, c}] rather than

a
b
c

I suspect that this is because I'm running Mathematica in script mode. Is there anything I can do to display a list like this? How can I verify what the cause of my problem is from the documentation (I'm having trouble running the GUI)? The documentation doesn't say anything about Column only working in GUI mode.

I assume that the answer to getting a list (if there is one) to display as a column will explain how to do the same for a grid with 2D lists.

On second thoughts, I'd rather it not be closed as a duplicate. Pls ignore the vtc. — rm -rf, Sep 02 '12 at 14:57

score 10 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 02 '12 at 14:16

10

You can force the Column to display correctly in text-only script mode by passing it explicitly to OutputForm. For example:

#!/Applications/Mathematica.app/Contents/MacOS/MathematicaScript -script
list = {a, b, c};
Print[Column[list] // OutputForm];

gives the output you expect:

a
b
c

answered Sep 02 '12 at 14:16

F'x

10,817
3
52
92

5

Or, as mentioned here, execute SetOptions[$Output, FormatType -> OutputForm]; before anything else... – J. M.'s missing motivation Sep 02 '12 at 14:24
Yes, OutputForm is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks to both of you! (I wish I could think of looking for something like OutputForm on my own...) – Brandon Amos Sep 02 '12 at 14:45
This does not work for me. It just prints OutputForm[Column[{a, b, c}]](I call scripts with MathKernel -script) – Kvothe Jun 30 '21 at 13:29

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 30 '21 at 13:34

The answer by F'x does not work for me ("12.1.1 for Linux x86 (64-bit) (June 19, 2020)"). The following does work: Simply include

SetOptions[ $Output, FormatType -> OutputForm ];

at the start of your script so that all output gets displayed in OutputForm. (See https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/a/651/45020)

Formatting and printing lists with Mathematica scripts

2 Answers2