Tutorial : tables

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Making simple tables

The Basics

Simple tables are available using the tilde (~) character in column 1, followed by a space character. Each line signals a new column and paragraph breaks signal a new row. For example, you can write:

~ [Name] ~ [Color] ~ [Taste] ~ Orange ~ Orange ~ Citrus ~ Apple ~ Red or Green ~ Sweet or Sour ~ Grapefruit ~ Yellow ~ Bitter

and it’ll show like this:

Name	Color	Taste

Orange	Orange	Citrus

Apple	Red or Green	Sweet or Sour

Grapefruit	Yellow	Bitter

Optional Features

Special formatting characters can optionally be used after the ~ to specify vertical or horizontal alignment:

~^ align cells top
~- align cells vertically
~v align cells bottom
~< flush cells left
~| center cells horizontally
~> flush cells right

and these can be combined, for example:

~<^ top left
~|- center both horizontally & vertically

By the way, once an alignment is specified, it automatically applies to all further table cells below it in the current table, so you usually only need to specify the alignment in the first row.

The default alignment (if none is given) is ~<-, which means “flush left and center vertically.” The most common override is ~^, which means “flush left and align top.”

Nested table are not supported.

An example with images

Here is a simple table displaying three Cool LEGO Site of the Week buttons. The input goes like this:

~v| <</cool/clsotw-round-100x100.gif>>¬100x100 pixels¬3 KB ~v| <</cool/clsotw-round-75x75.gif>>¬75x75 pixels¬2 KB ~v| <</cool/clsotw-round-50x50.gif>>¬50x50 pixels¬1 KB

and the output goes like this:

100x100 pixels
3 KB

75x75 pixels
2 KB

50x50 pixels
1 KB

Note the use of ~v| to align the data to the bottom of the cells and to center the data horizontally within the cells.

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