diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/Table.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/Table.java
index 34c0e3476da..24956db9672 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/Table.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/Table.java
@@ -20,12 +20,10 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.common;
 
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
+import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
 import org.elasticsearch.ElasticSearchIllegalArgumentException;
 
-import java.util.ArrayList;
-import java.util.HashMap;
-import java.util.List;
-import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.*;
 
 /**
  */
@@ -34,6 +32,8 @@ public class Table {
     protected List<Cell> headers = new ArrayList<Cell>();
     protected List<List<Cell>> rows = new ArrayList<List<Cell>>();
 
+    protected Map<String,List<Cell>> map = Maps.newHashMap();
+
     protected List<Cell> currentCells;
 
     protected boolean inHeaders = false;
@@ -48,6 +48,18 @@ public class Table {
         inHeaders = false;
         headers = currentCells;
         currentCells = null;
+
+        /* Create associative structure for columns that
+         * contain the same cells as the rows:
+         *
+         *     header1 => [Cell, Cell, ...]
+         *     header2 => [Cell, Cell, ...]
+         *     header3 => [Cell, Cell, ...]
+         */
+        for (Cell header : headers) {
+            map.put((String) header.value, new ArrayList<Cell>());
+        }
+
         return this;
     }
 
@@ -75,6 +87,13 @@ public class Table {
 
     public Table addCell(Cell cell) {
         currentCells.add(cell);
+
+        // If we're in a value row, also populate the named column.
+        if (!inHeaders) {
+            String hdr = (String) headers.get(currentCells.indexOf(cell)).value;
+            map.get(hdr).add(cell);
+        }
+
         return this;
     }
 
@@ -111,7 +130,7 @@ public class Table {
                 mAttr.put(sAttr.substring(0, idx), sAttr.substring(idx + 1));
             }
         }
-        currentCells.add(new Cell(value, mAttr));
+        addCell(new Cell(value, mAttr));
         return this;
     }
 
@@ -119,7 +138,9 @@ public class Table {
         return this.headers;
     }
 
-    public Iterable<List<Cell>> getRows() {
+    public Iterable<List<Cell>> rowIterator() { return rows; }
+
+    public List<List<Cell>> getRows() {
         return rows;
     }
 
@@ -127,6 +148,20 @@ public class Table {
         return (List<Cell>[]) rows.toArray();
     }
 
+    public Map<String, List<Cell>> getAsMap() { return this.map; }
+
+    public List<Cell> getHeadersFromNames(List<String> headerNames) {
+        List<Cell> hdrs = new ArrayList<Cell>();
+        for (String hdrToFind : headerNames) {
+            for (Cell header : headers) {
+                if (((String) header.value).equalsIgnoreCase(hdrToFind)) {
+                    hdrs.add(header);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        return hdrs;
+    }
+
     public Table addTable(Table t2) {
         Table t1 = this;
         Table t = new Table();
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/support/RestTable.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/support/RestTable.java
index 6c45ed126be..28e8e919be1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/support/RestTable.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/support/RestTable.java
@@ -29,9 +29,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentType;
 import org.elasticsearch.rest.*;
 
-import java.util.HashSet;
-import java.util.List;
-import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.*;
 
 /**
  */
@@ -47,19 +45,16 @@ public class RestTable {
 
     public static RestResponse buildXContentBuilder(Table table, RestRequest request, RestChannel channel) throws Exception {
         XContentBuilder builder = RestXContentBuilder.restContentBuilder(request);
-        Set<String> displayHeaders = buildDisplayHeaders(table, request);
+        List<String> displayHeaders = buildDisplayHeaders(table, request);
 
-        List<Table.Cell> headers = table.getHeaders();
         builder.startArray();
-        for (List<Table.Cell> row : table.getRows()) {
+        for (int row = 0; row < table.getRows().size(); row++) {
             builder.startObject();
-            for (int i = 0; i < headers.size(); i++) {
-                String headerName = headers.get(i).value.toString();
-                if (displayHeaders.contains(headerName)) {
-                    builder.field(headerName, renderValue(request, row.get(i).value));
-                }
+            for (String header : displayHeaders) {
+                builder.field(header, renderValue(request, table.getAsMap().get(header).get(row).value));
             }
             builder.endObject();
+
         }
         builder.endArray();
         return new XContentRestResponse(request, RestStatus.OK, builder);
@@ -81,28 +76,25 @@ public class RestTable {
             return new StringRestResponse(RestStatus.OK, out.toString());
         }
 
-        int[] width = buildWidths(table, request, verbose);
-        Set<String> displayHeaders = buildDisplayHeaders(table, request);
+        List<String> displayHeaders = buildDisplayHeaders(table, request);
+        int[] width = buildWidths(table, request, verbose, displayHeaders);
 
+        int col = 0;
         StringBuilder out = new StringBuilder();
         if (verbose) {
             // print the headers
-            for (int i = 0; i < width.length; i++) {
-                String headerName = table.getHeaders().get(i).value.toString();
-                if (displayHeaders.contains(headerName)) {
-                    pad(table.getHeaders().get(i), width[i], request, out);
-                    out.append(" ");
-                }
+            for (Table.Cell header : table.getHeadersFromNames(displayHeaders)) {
+                pad(header, width[col], request, out);
+                out.append(" ");
+                col++;
             }
             out.append("\n");
         }
-        for (List<Table.Cell> row : table.getRows()) {
-            for (int i = 0; i < width.length; i++) {
-                String headerName = table.getHeaders().get(i).value.toString();
-                if (displayHeaders.contains(headerName)) {
-                    pad(row.get(i), width[i], request, out);
-                    out.append(" ");
-                }
+
+        for (int row = 0; row < table.getRows().size(); row++) {
+            for (String header : displayHeaders) {
+                pad(table.getAsMap().get(header).get(row), width[displayHeaders.indexOf(header)], request, out);
+                out.append(" ");
             }
             out.append("\n");
         }
@@ -110,13 +102,16 @@ public class RestTable {
         return new StringRestResponse(RestStatus.OK, out.toString());
     }
 
-    private static Set<String> buildDisplayHeaders(Table table, RestRequest request) {
+    private static List<String> buildDisplayHeaders(Table table, RestRequest request) {
         String pHeaders = request.param("headers");
-        Set<String> display;
+        List<String> display = new ArrayList<String>();
         if (pHeaders != null) {
-            display = Strings.commaDelimitedListToSet(pHeaders);
+            for (String possibility : Arrays.asList(Strings.splitStringByCommaToArray(pHeaders))) {
+                if (table.getAsMap().containsKey(possibility)) {
+                    display.add(possibility);
+                }
+            }
         } else {
-            display = new HashSet<String>();
             for (Table.Cell cell : table.getHeaders()) {
                 String d = cell.attr.get("default");
                 if (Booleans.parseBoolean(d, true)) {
@@ -145,27 +140,31 @@ public class RestTable {
         return width;
     }
 
-    private static int[] buildWidths(Table table, RestRequest request, boolean verbose) {
-        int[] width = new int[table.getHeaders().size()];
+    private static int[] buildWidths(Table table, RestRequest request, boolean verbose, List<String> headers) {
+        int[] width = new int[headers.size()];
+        int i;
 
         if (verbose) {
-            for (int col = 0; col < width.length; col++) {
-                String v = renderValue(request, table.getHeaders().get(col).value);
-                int vWidth = v == null ? 0 : v.length();
-                if (width[col] < vWidth) {
-                    width[col] = vWidth;
+            i = 0;
+            for (String hdr : headers) {
+                int vWidth = hdr.length();
+                if (width[i] < vWidth) {
+                    width[i] = vWidth;
                 }
+                i++;
             }
         }
 
-        for (List<Table.Cell> row : table.getRows()) {
-            for (int col = 0; col < width.length; col++) {
-                String v = renderValue(request, row.get(col).value);
+        i = 0;
+        for (String hdr : headers) {
+            for (Table.Cell cell : table.getAsMap().get(hdr)) {
+                String v = renderValue(request, cell.value);
                 int vWidth = v == null ? 0 : v.length();
-                if (width[col] < vWidth) {
-                    width[col] = vWidth;
+                if (width[i] < vWidth) {
+                    width[i] = vWidth;
                 }
             }
+            i++;
         }
         return width;
     }