# Tables
With the flag `MD_FLAG_TABLES`, MD4C enables extension for recognition of
tables.
Basic table example of a table with two columns and three lines (when not
counting the header) is as follows:
```````````````````````````````` example
| Column 1 | Column 2 |
|----------|----------|
| foo | bar |
| baz | qux |
| quux | quuz |
.
<table>
<thead>
<tr><th>Column 1</th><th>Column 2</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>foo</td><td>bar</td></tr>
<tr><td>baz</td><td>qux</td></tr>
<tr><td>quux</td><td>quuz</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
````````````````````````````````
The leading and succeeding pipe characters (`|`) on each line are optional:
```````````````````````````````` example
Column 1 | Column 2 |
---------|--------- |
foo | bar |
baz | qux |
quux | quuz |
.
<table>
<thead>
<tr><th>Column 1</th><th>Column 2</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>foo</td><td>bar</td></tr>
<tr><td>baz</td><td>qux</td></tr>
<tr><td>quux</td><td>quuz</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example
| Column 1 | Column 2
|----------|---------
| foo | bar
| baz | qux
| quux | quuz
.
<table>
<thead>
<tr><th>Column 1</th><th>Column 2</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>foo</td><td>bar</td></tr>
<tr><td>baz</td><td>qux</td></tr>
<tr><td>quux</td><td>quuz</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example
Column 1 | Column 2
---------|---------
foo | bar
baz | qux
quux | quuz
.
<table>
<thead>
<tr><th>Column 1</th><th>Column 2</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>foo</td><td>bar</td></tr>
<tr><td>baz</td><td>qux</td></tr>
<tr><td>quux</td><td>quuz</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
````````````````````````````````
However for one-column table, at least one pipe has to be used in the table
header underline, otherwise it would be parsed as a Setext title followed by
a paragraph.
```````````````````````````````` example
Column 1
--------
foo
baz
quux
.
<h2>Column 1</h2>
<p>foo
baz
quux</p>
````````````````````````````````
Leading and trailing whitespace in a table cell is ignored and the columns do
not need to be aligned.
```````````````````````````````` example
Column 1 |Column 2
---|---
foo | bar
baz| qux
quux|quuz
.
<table>
<thead>
<tr><th>Column 1</th><th>Column 2</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>foo</td><td>bar</td></tr>
<tr><td>baz</td><td>qux</td></tr>
<tr><td>quux</td><td>quuz</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
````````````````````````````````
The table cannot interrupt a paragraph.
```````````````````````````````` example
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
| Column 1 | Column 2
| ---------|---------
| foo | bar
| baz | qux
| quux | quuz
.
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
| Column 1 | Column 2
| ---------|---------
| foo | bar
| baz | qux
| quux | quuz</p>
````````````````````````````````
Similarly, paragraph cannot interrupt a table:
```````````````````````````````` example
Column 1 | Column 2
---------|---------
foo | bar
baz | qux
quux | quuz
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
.
<table>
<thead>
<tr><th>Column 1</th><th>Column 2</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>foo</td><td>bar</td></tr>
<tr><td>baz</td><td>qux</td></tr>
<tr><td>quux</td><td>quuz</td></tr>
<tr><td>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.</td><td></td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
````````````````````````````````
The first, the last or both the first and the last dash in each column
underline can be replaced with a colon (`:`) to request left, right or middle
alignment of the respective column:
```````````````````````````````` example
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 | Column 4 |
|----------|:---------|:--------:|---------:|
| default | left | center | right |
.
<table>
<thead>
<tr><th>Column 1</th><th align="left">Column 2</th><th align="center">Column 3</th><th align="right">Column 4</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>default</td><td align="left">left</td><td align="center">center</td><td align="right">right</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
````````````````````````````````
To include a literal pipe character in any cell, it has to be escaped.
```````````````````````````````` example
Column 1 | Column 2
---------|---------
foo | bar
baz | qux \| xyzzy
quux | quuz
.
<table>
<thead>
<tr><th>Column 1</th><th>Column 2</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>foo</td><td>bar</td></tr>
<tr><td>baz</td><td>qux | xyzzy</td></tr>
<tr><td>quux</td><td>quuz</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
````````````````````````````````
Contents of each cell is parsed as an inline text which may contents any
inline Markdown spans like emphasis, strong emphasis, links etc.
```````````````````````````````` example
Column 1 | Column 2
---------|---------
*foo* | bar
**baz** | [qux]
quux | [quuz](/url2)
[qux]: /url
.
<table>
<thead>
<tr><th>Column 1</th><th>Column 2</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td><em>foo</em></td><td>bar</td></tr>
<tr><td><strong>baz</strong></td><td><a href="/url">qux</a></td></tr>
<tr><td>quux</td><td><a href="/url2">quuz</a></td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
````````````````````````````````
However pipes which are inside a code span are not recognized as cell
boundaries.
```````````````````````````````` example
Column 1 | Column 2
---------|---------
`foo | bar`
baz | qux
quux | quuz
.
<table>
<thead>
<tr><th>Column 1</th><th>Column 2</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td><code>foo | bar</code></td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>baz</td><td>qux</td></tr>
<tr><td>quux</td><td>quuz</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
````````````````````````````````
## GitHub Issues
### [Issue 41](https://github.com/mity/md4c/issues/41)
```````````````````````````````` example
* x|x
---|---
.
<ul>
<li>x|x
---|---</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````
(Not a table, because the underline has wrong indentation and is not part of the
list item.)
```````````````````````````````` example
* x|x
---|---
x|x
.
<ul>
<li><table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>x</th>
<th>x</th>
</tr>
</thead>
</table>
</li>
</ul>
<p>x|x</p>
````````````````````````````````
(Here the underline has the right indentation so the table is detected.
But the last line is not part of it due its indentation.)
### [Issue 42](https://github.com/mity/md4c/issues/42)
```````````````````````````````` example
] http://x.x *x*
|x|x|
|---|---|
|x|
.
<p>] http://x.x <em>x</em></p>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>x</th>
<th>x</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>x</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
````````````````````````````````
### [Issue 104](https://github.com/mity/md4c/issues/104)
```````````````````````````````` example
A | B
--- | ---
[x](url)
.
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>A</th>
<th>B</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="url">x</a></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
````````````````````````````````
### [Issue 138](https://github.com/mity/md4c/issues/138)
```````````````````````````````` example
| abc | def |
| --- | --- |
.
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>abc</th>
<th>def</th>
</tr>
</thead>
</table>
````````````````````````````````