Here I gathered some softwares I used in daily works related to tables. Hope it helps.
(1) Topcat.
You should try it anyway. It is graph interactive software. You can learn different formats for tables. Different tasks can be completed here including to match catalogs!
(2) STILTS
It is a command line software. This actually is also the background command used in TOPCAT. So you can complete all the tasks of TOPCAT with this package.
My example to use this package. I transpose the ascii table which means to change the rows to columns and columns to rows by the following command:
stilts tpipe ifmt=ascii ofmt=ascii in='m0717p_v1.tex' out='m0717p_v1.lis' cmd='transpose'
(3) asciidata asciitable
Python package used to dealing with ascii table. Easy to use when you are familiar with Python. However, I think it takes time to learn about the details of each commands.
(4) Using readcols.py
A small program to read a table (Can be easily found from google like here.). I usually use this commands to read data. So so easy to use and you do not have to learn to much about how the program works.
