Table

The mat-table provides a Material Design styled data-table that can be used to display rows of data.

This table builds on the foundation of the CDK data-table and uses a similar interface for its data input and template, except that its element and attribute selectors will be prefixed with mat- instead of cdk-. For more information on the interface and a detailed look at how the table is implemented, see the guide covering the CDK data-table.

link Getting Started

link 1. Write your mat-table and provide data

Begin by adding the <table mat-table> component to your template and passing in data.

The simplest way to provide data to the table is by passing a data array to the table's dataSource input. The table will take the array and render a row for each object in the data array.

<table mat-table [dataSource]=”myDataArray”>
  ...
</table>

Since the table optimizes for performance, it will not automatically check for changes to the data array. Instead, when objects are added, removed, or moved on the data array, you can trigger an update to the table's rendered rows by calling its renderRows() method.

While an array is the simplest way to bind data into the data source, it is also the most limited. For more complex applications, using a DataSource instance is recommended. See the section "Advanced data sources" below for more information.

link 2. Define the column templates

Next, write your table's column templates.

Each column definition should be given a unique name and contain the content for its header and row cells.

Here's a simple column definition with the name 'userName'. The header cell contains the text "Name" and each row cell will render the name property of each row's data.

<ng-container matColumnDef="userName">
  <th mat-header-cell *matHeaderCellDef> Name </th>
  <td mat-cell *matCellDef="let user"> {{user.name}} </td>
</ng-container>

link 3. Define the row templates

Finally, once you have defined your columns, you need to tell the table which columns will be rendered in the header and data rows.

To start, create a variable in your component that contains the list of the columns you want to render.

columnsToDisplay = ['userName', 'age'];

Then add mat-header-row and mat-row to the content of your mat-table and provide your column list as inputs.

<tr mat-header-row *matHeaderRowDef="columnsToDisplay"></tr>
<tr mat-row *matRowDef="let myRowData; columns: columnsToDisplay"></tr>

Note that this list of columns provided to the rows can be in any order, not necessary the order in which you wrote the column definitions. Also, you do not necessarily have to include every column that was defined in your template.

This means that by changing your column list provided to the rows, you can easily re-order and include/exclude columns dynamically.

link Advanced data sources

The simplest way to provide data to your table is by passing a data array. More complex use-cases may benefit from a more flexible approach involving an Observable stream or by encapsulating your data source logic into a DataSource class.

link Observable stream of data arrays

An alternative approach to providing data to the table is by passing an Observable stream that emits the data array to be rendered each time it is changed. The table will listen to this stream and automatically trigger an update to the rows each time a new data array is emitted.

link DataSource

For most real-world applications, providing the table a DataSource instance will be the best way to manage data. The DataSource is meant to serve a place to encapsulate any sorting, filtering, pagination, and data retrieval logic specific to the application.

A DataSource is simply a base class that has two functions: connect and disconnect. The connect function will be called by the table to receive a stream that emits the data array that should be rendered. The table will call disconnect when the table is destroyed, which may be the right time to clean up any subscriptions that may have been registered during the connect process.

link Features

The MatTable is focused on a single responsibility: efficiently render rows of data in a performant and accessible way.

You'll notice that the table itself doesn't come out of the box with a lot of features, but expects that the table will be included in a composition of components that fills out its features.

For example, you can add sorting and pagination to the table by using MatSort and MatPaginator and mutating the data provided to the table according to their outputs.

To simplify the use case of having a table that can sort, paginate, and filter an array of data, the Angular Material library comes with a MatTableDataSource that has already implemented the logic of determining what rows should be rendered according to the current table state. To add these feature to the table, check out their respective sections below.

link Pagination

To paginate the table's data, add a <mat-paginator> after the table.

If you are using the MatTableDataSource for your table's data source, simply provide the MatPaginator to your data source. It will automatically listen for page changes made by the user and send the right paged data to the table.

Otherwise if you are implementing the logic to paginate your data, you will want to listen to the paginator's (page) output and pass the right slice of data to your table.

For more information on using and configuring the <mat-paginator>, check out the mat-paginator docs.

The MatPaginator is one provided solution to paginating your table's data, but it is not the only option. In fact, the table can work with any custom pagination UI or strategy since the MatTable and its interface is not tied to any one specific implementation.

link Sorting

To add sorting behavior to the table, add the matSort directive to the table and add mat-sort-header to each column header cell that should trigger sorting. Note that you have to import MatSortModule in order to initialize the matSort directive (see API docs).

<!-- Name Column -->
<ng-container matColumnDef="position">
  <th mat-header-cell *matHeaderCellDef mat-sort-header> Name </th>
  <td mat-cell *matCellDef="let element"> {{element.position}} </td>
</ng-container>

If you are using the MatTableDataSource for your table's data source, provide the MatSort directive to the data source and it will automatically listen for sorting changes and change the order of data rendered by the table.

By default, the MatTableDataSource sorts with the assumption that the sorted column's name matches the data property name that the column displays. For example, the following column definition is named position, which matches the name of the property displayed in the row cell.

Note that if the data properties do not match the column names, or if a more complex data property accessor is required, then a custom sortingDataAccessor function can be set to override the default data accessor on the MatTableDataSource.

If you are not using the MatTableDataSource, but instead implementing custom logic to sort your data, listen to the sort's (matSortChange) event and re-order your data according to the sort state. If you are providing a data array directly to the table, don't forget to call renderRows() on the table, since it will not automatically check the array for changes.

For more information on using and configuring the sorting behavior, check out the matSort docs.

The MatSort is one provided solution to sorting your table's data, but it is not the only option. In fact, the table can work with any custom pagination UI or strategy since the MatTable and its interface is not tied to any one specific implementation.

link Filtering

Angular Material does not provide a specific component to be used for filtering the MatTable since there is no single common approach to adding a filter UI to table data.

A general strategy is to add an input where users can type in a filter string and listen to this input to change what data is offered from the data source to the table.

If you are using the MatTableDataSource, simply provide the filter string to the
MatTableDataSource. The data source will reduce each row data to a serialized form and will filter out the row if it does not contain the filter string. By default, the row data reducing function will concatenate all the object values and convert them to lowercase.

For example, the data object {id: 123, name: 'Mr. Smith', favoriteColor: 'blue'} will be reduced to 123mr. smithblue. If your filter string was blue then it would be considered a match because it is contained in the reduced string, and the row would be displayed in the table.

To override the default filtering behavior, a custom filterPredicate function can be set which takes a data object and filter string and returns true if the data object is considered a match.

link Selection

Right now there is no formal support for adding a selection UI to the table, but Angular Material does offer the right components and pieces to set this up. The following steps are one solution but it is not the only way to incorporate row selection in your table.

1. Add a selection model

Get started by setting up a SelectionModel from @angular/cdk/collections that will maintain the selection state.

const initialSelection = [];
const allowMultiSelect = true;
this.selection = new SelectionModel<MyDataType>(allowMultiSelect, initialSelection);

2. Define a selection column

Add a column definition for displaying the row checkboxes, including a master toggle checkbox for the header. The column name should be added to the list of displayed columns provided to the header and data row.

<ng-container matColumnDef="select">
  <th mat-header-cell *matHeaderCellDef>
    <mat-checkbox (change)="$event ? masterToggle() : null"
                  [checked]="selection.hasValue() && isAllSelected()"
                  [indeterminate]="selection.hasValue() && !isAllSelected()">
    </mat-checkbox>
  </th>
  <td mat-cell *matCellDef="let row">
    <mat-checkbox (click)="$event.stopPropagation()"
                  (change)="$event ? selection.toggle(row) : null"
                  [checked]="selection.isSelected(row)">
    </mat-checkbox>
  </td>
</ng-container>

3. Add event handling logic

Implement the behavior in your component's logic to handle the header's master toggle and checking if all rows are selected.

/** Whether the number of selected elements matches the total number of rows. */
isAllSelected() {
  const numSelected = this.selection.selected.length;
  const numRows = this.dataSource.data.length;
  return numSelected == numRows;
}

/** Selects all rows if they are not all selected; otherwise clear selection. */
masterToggle() {
  this.isAllSelected() ?
      this.selection.clear() :
      this.dataSource.data.forEach(row => this.selection.select(row));
}

4. Include overflow styling

Finally, adjust the styling for the select column so that its overflow is not hidden. This allows the ripple effect to extend beyond the cell.

.mat-column-select {
  overflow: initial;
}

link Footer row

A footer row can be added to the table by adding a footer row definition to the table and adding footer cell templates to column definitions. The footer row will be rendered after the rendered data rows.

<ng-container matColumnDef="cost">
  <th mat-header-cell *matHeaderCellDef> Cost </th>
  <td mat-cell *matCellDef="let data"> {{data.cost}} </td>
  <td mat-footer-cell *matFooterCellDef> {{totalCost}} </td>
</ng-container>

...

<tr mat-header-row *matHeaderRowDef="columnsToDisplay"></tr>
<tr mat-row *matRowDef="let myRowData; columns: columnsToDisplay"></tr>
<tr mat-footer-row *matFooterRowDef="columnsToDisplay"></tr

link Sticky Rows and Columns

By using position: sticky styling, the table's rows and columns can be fixed so that they do not leave the viewport even when scrolled. The table provides inputs that will automatically apply the correct CSS styling so that the rows and columns become sticky.

In order to fix the header row to the top of the scrolling viewport containing the table, you can add a sticky input to the matHeaderRowDef.

Similarly, this can also be applied to the table's footer row. Note that if you are using the native <table> and using Safari, then the footer will only stick if sticky is applied to all the rendered footer rows.

It is also possible to fix cell columns to the start or end of the horizontally scrolling viewport. To do this, add the sticky or stickyEnd directive to the ng-container column definition.

This feature is supported by Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. It is not supported in IE, but it does fail gracefully so that the rows simply do not stick.

Note that on Safari mobile when using the flex-based table, a cell stuck in more than one direction will struggle to stay in the correct position as you scroll. For example, if a header row is stuck to the top and the first column is stuck, then the top-left-most cell will appear jittery as you scroll.

Also, sticky positioning in Edge will appear shaky for special cases. For example, if the scrolling container has a complex box shadow and has sibling elements, the stuck cells will appear jittery. There is currently an open issue with Edge to resolve this.

link Accessibility

Tables without text or labels should be given a meaningful label via aria-label or aria-labelledby. The aria-readonly defaults to true if it's not set.

Table's default role is grid, and it can be changed to treegrid through role attribute.

mat-table does not manage any focus/keyboard interaction on its own. Users can add desired focus/keyboard interactions in their application.

link Tables with display: flex

The MatTable does not require that you use a native HTML table. Instead, you can use an alternative approach that uses display: flex for the table's styles.

This alternative approach replaces the native table element tags with the MatTable directive selectors. For example, <table mat-table> becomes <mat-table>; <tr mat-row> becomes <mat-row>. The following shows a previous example using this alternative template:

<mat-table [dataSource]="dataSource">
  <!-- User name Definition -->
  <ng-container cdkColumnDef="username">
    <mat-header-cell *cdkHeaderCellDef> User name </mat-header-cell>
    <mat-cell *cdkCellDef="let row"> {{row.username}} </mat-cell>
  </ng-container>

  <!-- Age Definition -->
  <ng-container cdkColumnDef="age">
    <mat-header-cell *cdkHeaderCellDef> Age </mat-header-cell>
    <mat-cell *cdkCellDef="let row"> {{row.age}} </mat-cell>
  </ng-container>

  <!-- Title Definition -->
  <ng-container cdkColumnDef="title">
    <mat-header-cell *cdkHeaderCellDef> Title </mat-header-cell>
    <mat-cell *cdkCellDef="let row"> {{row.title}} </mat-cell>
  </ng-container>

  <!-- Header and Row Declarations -->
  <mat-header-row *cdkHeaderRowDef="['username', 'age', 'title']"></mat-header-row>
  <mat-row *cdkRowDef="let row; columns: ['username', 'age', 'title']"></mat-row>
</mat-table>

Note that this approach means you cannot include certain native-table features such colspan/rowspan or have columns that resize themselves based on their content.