Tables

Tables are structured as follows:

Simple table with no border lines.

++-------+-------+-------+
+|  1,1  |  1,2  |  1,3  |
+|  2,1  |  2,2  |  2,3  |
++-------+-------+-------+

Simple table with border lines around each cell. Border lines must be comprised entirely of '-' that span the entire length of each cell.

++-------+-------+-------+
+|  1,1  |  1,2  |  1,3  |
+|-------+-------+-------|
 |  2,1  |  2,2  |  2,3  |
++-------+-------+-------+

The entire table must be consistent - it is not valid to have a table that has borders for only some cells.

To create a single-row table with a border, you need to add a border line (either above or below the row data).

++-------+-------+        ++-------+-------+
+|-------+-------+        +|  1,1  |  1,2  |
 |  1,1  |  1,2  |   or    |-------+-------+
++-------+-------+        ++-------+-------+

Tables start and end with a line that starts with '++' and contains only '-' except for the column boundaries, which are marked with '+'.

Each row starts with '+|' and has a '|' at each column boundary. There must be at least one ' ' (space) before and after each '|'.

The contents of a cell may span multiple lines by using continuation rows that start with ' |'.

++--------+------------------+--------+
+| Cell1  | Lots and lots of | Cell3  |
 |        | content here in  |        |
 |        | cell 2           |        |
+| Cell4  | Cell5            | Cell6  |
++--------+------------------+--------+

Header row

TODO

Table cell alignment

++---------+------------+---------+
+| Left    |   Center   |   Right |
 | align   |   align    |   align |
++---------+------------+---------+

Horizontal alignment is typically inferred from the position of the text in the cell:

• Left align cells have exactly 1 space on the left and at least 1 space on the right around the cell data.

• Center align cells have at least 2 spaces on each side of the cell data.

• Right align cells have exactly 1 space on the right and at least 2 spaces on the left around the cell data.

A single space on both sides of the cell data defaults to left alignment.

Explicit table cell alignment

Alignment can be explicitly specified using an alignment line immediately before any row:

@|H        V|

where:

• H = horizontal alignment: '<' (left), ':' (center), '.' (split), '>' (right), ' ' (infer)
• V = vertical alignment: '^' (top), '-' (center), 'v' (bottom)

By default, H = ' ' (infer) and V = '^' (top)

The 'split' horizontal alignment requires that a split point be specified with ':':

++----------+----------+
@|<        v|.    :   v|
+| Dogs     |    20    |
+| Cats     |  1370    |
+| Raccoons |     0.5  |
++----------+----------+

Everything in the cell up to and including the split point will be right-aligned and everything after the split point will be left aligned.

Cell Spanning

Table cells can only span multiple columns or rows if the table has border lines.

To span multiple rows or columns, remove the border between cells:

++-------+-------+-------+-------+
+|   A   |   B   |   C   |       |
+|-------+-------+-------|       |
 |   E   |      F+G      | D+H+L |
+|-------+-------+-------|       |
 |      I+J      |   K   |       |
++-------+-------+-------+-------+

The spanned cell must be rectangular in shape.

Note that the border intersections in the divider lines can be either '+' or '|', the choice is purely aesthetic.

The start table and end table lines must always use '+'.