Tables in Markdown
PocoCMS uses GitHub-style table markdown, a widely accepted extension to Markdown. Here are the highlights.
Table syntax simplified
Tables consist of a two-line required header, then zero or more rows.
- At least one header consisting of a line surrounded by pipe characters:
| Header | - A line of dashes surrounded by pipe characters:
| ------ | - Zero or more rows text surrounded by pipe characters, like this:
| Row 1 |
Let's put it all together.
Simple table example
To get a table that looks like this:
Result:
| Header | |
|---|---|
| Row 1, Column 1 | Row 1, Column 2 |
You'd use the following markdown:
Markdown:
| Header | |
| --------------------- | -------------------------- |
| Row 1, Column 1 | Row 1, Column 2 |
Minimum table: a header only
The absolute minimum table would consist of a single header with no rows:
Markdown:
| Header |
| --------------------- |
Result:
| Header |
|---|
Table with one header and one row:
Let's extend the previous example with one row:
Markdown:
| Header |
| --------------------- |
| Single cell |
Result:
| Header |
|---|
| Single cell |
Typical table with several rows
Most tables have multiple columns and rows, for example:
| Column 1 | Column 2 |
|---|---|
| Row 1, Column 1 | Row 1, Column 2 |
| Row 2, Column 1 | Row 2, Column 2 |
| Row 3, Column 1 | Row 3, Column 2 |
| Row 4, Column 1 | Row 4, Column 2 |
Markdown:
| Column 1 | Column 2 |
| --------------- | ---------------- |
| Row 1, Column 1 | Row 1, Column 2 |
| Row 2, Column 1 | Row 2, Column 2 |
| Row 3, Column 1 | Row 3, Column 2 |
| Row 4, Column 1 | Row 4, Column 2 |
Dash and space count don't matter
The number of dashes used to specify the header and the number of spaces surrounding the pipe characters don't matter. Take the following table:
| Column 1 | Column 2 |
|---|---|
| row 1 | 2nd column |
| row 2 | 2nd column |
You could use this crazy-ass markdown for it:
| Column 1| Column 2 |
| ------------ | --- |
| row 1 | 2nd column |
| row 2 | 2nd column |
Or you could use this markup:
| Column 1 | Column 2 |
| ------------ | ---------------- |
| row 1 | 2nd column |
| row 2 | 2nd column |
And they would both produce the same output.
Aligning text within columns
Normally table text is left-aligned. You can change alignment by using colon characters
(:) in the second header row, which contains the dash characters (-).
- To left-align the column, replace the leftmost dash with a colon
- To right-align the column, replace the rightmost dash with a colon
- To center-align the column, both the leftmost and rightmost dashes with a colon
Here's a table showing alignment:
| Alignment | Column 2 | Column 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Center align column 2 | * | |
| Right align column 3 | Boo | |
| Right align numbers | 1 | |
| 123 | ||
| $456.67 |
Markdown:
| Alignment | Column 2 | Column 3 |
| --------------------- |:--------------:| -------------:|
| Center align column 2 | * | |
| Right align column 3 | | Boo |
| Right align numbers: | | 1 |
| | | 123 |
| | | $456.67 |
For more details, see the GitHub style documentation.