Tables

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authors (basic)

PmWiki has two types of table markup; the markup described in this page is useful for creating simple tables with lots of small cells, while table directive markup helps with larger scale or more complex tables. For more possibilities with formatting simple tables, see Cookbook:Rowspan in simple tables and Cookbook:Formatting tables.

Table basics

Simple tables are created via use of double pipe characters: ||. Lines beginning with this markup denote rows in a table or a formatting line. Within table row lines the double-pipe is used to delimit cells. In the examples below a border is added for illustration (the default is no border).

The first line in the markup (initial double bars "||") is required. After the double bars, there may be optional formatting commands for the table such as border or width.

Basic table 
|| border=1
|| cell 1 || cell 2 || cell 3 ||
|| cell 1 || cell 2 ||
cell 1cell 2cell 3
cell 1cell 2

Header cells can be created by placing ! as the first character of a cell. Note that these are table headers, not headings, so it doesn't extend to !!, !!!, etc.

Table with borders and headers 
|| border=1
||! cell 1 ||! cell 2 ||! cell 3 ||
|| cell 1  ||  cell 2 ||  cell 3 ||
cell 1cell 2cell 3
cell 1cell 2cell 3

A table can have a caption, indicated by ||!caption!||. Any caption must appear prior to other rows of the table.

Table caption 
|| border=1
||! A special table !||
||! cell 1 ||! cell 2 ||! cell 3 ||
|| cell 1  ||  cell 2 ||  cell 3 ||
A special table
cell 1cell 2cell 3
cell 1cell 2cell 3

Formatting cell contents

Cell contents may be aligned left, centered, or aligned right.

  • To left-align contents, place the cell contents next to the leading ||.
  • To center contents, add a space before and after the cell contents.
  • To right-align contents, place a space before the cell contents and leave the cell contents next to the trailing ||.
Cell alignments 
|| border=1 width=100%
||!cell 1      ||! cell 2  ||!       cell 3||
||left-aligned || centered || right-aligned||
cell 1cell 2cell 3
left-alignedcenteredright-aligned
Default cell alignments 
|| border=1 width=100%
||!cell default||!cell left ||
||default-aligned||left-aligned ||
cell defaultcell left
default-alignedleft-aligned

Note that header and detail cells have different default alignments.

To get a cell to span multiple columns, follow the cell with empty cells. (At present there is no markup for spanning rows.)

Column spanning 
|| border=1 width=100%
|| |||| right column ||
|| || right two columns ||||
|| || middle column || ||
|| left column || ||||
|| left two columns |||| ||
|| entire row ||||||
|| left column || middle column || right column ||
 right column
 right two columns
 middle column 
left column 
left two columns 
entire row
left columnmiddle columnright column

Table attributes

Any line that begins with || but doesn't have a closing || sets the table attributes for any tables that follow. These attributes can control the size and position of the table, borders, background color, and cell spacing. (In fact these are just standard HTML attributes that are placed in the <table> tag.)

Use the width= attribute to set a table's width, using either a percentage value, an absolute size, or *.

See also $SimpleTableDefaultClassName.

Table width 
|| border=1 width=100% 
|| cell 1 || cell 2 || cell 3 ||
|| c1 || cellcellcellcell2 || cell 3 ||
cell 1cell 2cell 3
c1cellcellcellcell2cell 3

The border= attribute sets the size of a table's borders.

Bordered table 
|| border=10 width=70%
||!cell 1      ||! cell 2  ||!       cell 3||
||left-aligned || centered || right-aligned||
cell 1cell 2cell 3
left-alignedcenteredright-aligned
Borderless table 
|| border=0 width=70%
||!cell 1      ||! cell 2  ||!       cell 3||
||left-aligned || centered || right-aligned||
cell 1cell 2cell 3
left-alignedcenteredright-aligned

Use align=center, align=left, and align=right to center, left, or right align a table. Note that align=left and align=right create a floating table, such that text wraps around the table.

Table alignment: center 
|| border=1 align=center width=50%
||!cell 1      ||! cell 2  ||!       cell 3||
||left-aligned || centered || right-aligned||
Notice how text does not wrap with a table using "align=center".
cell 1cell 2cell 3
left-alignedcenteredright-aligned

Notice how text does not wrap with a table using "align=center".

Table alignment: left 
|| border=1 align=left width=50%
||!cell 1      ||! cell 2  ||!       cell 3||
||left-aligned || centered || right-aligned||
Notice how text wraps to the right of a table using "align=left".
cell 1cell 2cell 3
left-alignedcenteredright-aligned

Notice how text wraps to the right of a table using "align=left".

Table alignment: right 
|| border=1 align=right width=50%
||!cell 1      ||! cell 2  ||!       cell 3||
||left-aligned || centered || right-aligned||
Notice how text wraps to the left of a table using "align=right".
cell 1cell 2cell 3
left-alignedcenteredright-aligned

Notice how text wraps to the left of a table using "align=right".

Note: to get a table to align left (but not "float left") requires CSS, as in

||style="margin-left:0px;"

The bgcolor= attribute sets the background color for a table. At present there is no way to specify the color of individual rows or cells in this type of table (but see Cookbook:FormattingTables). 

|| border=1 align=center bgcolor=yellow width=70%
||!cell 1    ||! cell 2 ||!     cell 3||
||left-align || center  || right-align||
cell 1cell 2cell 3
left-aligncenterright-align

Sortable tables

To allow readers to reorder a table, give it the class="sortable" attribute: 

|| class="sortable simpletable"
||!   m||!Geographic zone     ||!Highest point     ||!Country  ||
|| 3700||Arctic               ||Gunnbjørn Fjeld    ||Greenland ||
|| 8848||North Temperate Zone ||Mount Everest      ||Nepal     ||
|| 5790||North Tropical Zone  ||Cayambe            ||Ecuador   ||
|| 6768||South Tropical Zone  ||Huáscarán          ||Peru      ||
|| 6960||South Temperate Zone ||Aconcagua          ||Argentina ||
|| 4892||Antarctic            ||Mount Vinson       ||(none)    ||
mGeographic zoneHighest pointCountry
3700ArcticGunnbjørn FjeldGreenland
8848North Temperate ZoneMount EverestNepal
5790North Tropical ZoneCayambeEcuador
6768South Tropical ZoneHuáscaránPeru
6960South Temperate ZoneAconcaguaArgentina
4892AntarcticMount Vinson(none)

Notes:

  • This feature has to be enabled in local configuration, see $EnableSortable. It will then work both for simple tables as above, and for table directives with the class="sortable" attribute.
  • The optional "simpletable" class is available in core skins and possibly other skins, it should define reasonably simple table styles.
  • The first row of the table needs to have heading cells with ||! separators which can be clicked to order the rows by the column.
  • If the last row of your table should be a footer that is not sorted, use the class "sortable-footer" instead of "sortable". If you use ||! separators in the footer, they will also allow the rows to be sorted, like the header cells.

Data types: By default, the rows are sorted numerically, if the cells contain unformatted numeric values, or alphabetically. You can define the sorting data type of a column by adding to the heading cell an empty WikiStyle element:

  • %sort-numeric-us%%% - cells in the column contain US-formatted numbers like 1,234.56.
  • %sort-numeric%%% - cells in the column contain SI-formatted numbers like 1 234,56.
  • %sort-date%%% - cells in the column contain dates or date-times that will be parsed by the browser. Dates like "2023-11-19" or "2023-11-19 14:09:11" should be correctly parsed, other dates in English might be correctly detected or not.
  • %sort-time%%% - the cell contains a <time datetime="..."></time> element, and its "datetime" value should be used for sorting. Markup like @2022-01-08T10:07:08Z or {(ftime "%L" "{*$LastModifiedTime}")} would output a <time> element in the timezone of the visitor, with more or less precision depending on $EnableLocalTimes, but the "datetime" attributes should allow precise sorting.

FAQ

How do I create a basic table?

Tables are created via use of the double pipe character: ||. Lines beginning with this markup denote rows in a table; within such lines the double-pipe is used to delimit cells. In the examples below a border is added for illustration (the default is no border).

Basic table 
|| border=1 rules=rows frame=hsides
|| cell 1 || cell 2 || cell 3 ||
|| cell 1 || cell 2 || cell 3 ||
cell 1cell 2cell 3
cell 1cell 2cell 3

How do I create cell headers?

Header cells can be created by placing ! as the first character of a cell. Note that these are table headers, not headings, so it doesn't extend to !!, !!!, etc.

Table headers 
|| border=1 rules=cols frame=vsides
||! cell 1 ||! cell 2 ||! cell 3 ||
|| cell 1  ||  cell 2 ||  cell 3 ||
cell 1cell 2cell 3
cell 1cell 2cell 3

How do I obtain a table with thin lines and more distance to the content?

"Thin lines" is tricky and browser dependent, but the following works for Firefox and IE (Nov. 2009):

Thin lines and cell padding 
||border="1" style="border-collapse:collapse" cellpadding="5" width=66%
||!Header ||! Header || '''Header'''||
||cells   ||  with   ||      padding||
||        ||         ||             ||
HeaderHeaderHeader
cellswithpadding
   

How do I create an advanced table?

See table directives

My tables are by default centered. When I try to use '||align=left' they don't align left as expected.

Use ||style="margin-left:0px;" instead.

How can I specify the width of columns?

You can define the widths via custom styles, see Cookbook:FormattingTables and $TableCellAttrFmt. Add in config.php : $TableCellAttrFmt = 'class=col$TableCellCount';

And add in pub/css/local.css : 
table.column td.col1 { width: 120px; }
table.column td.col3 { width: 40px; }

How can I display a double pipe "||" in cell text using basic table markup?

Escape it with [=||=] to display || unchanged.

How do I apply styles to the elements of the table, like an ID to the table row, or a class/style to the TD?

See $WikiStyleApply.

Alternately, use table directives, which allow specifying styling either directly (style="...") or by a class="..." attribute for CSS.

Is there a simple way to change the table defaults? I prefer a border and I'm tired of adding it to every table.

You can set $SimpleTableDefaultClassName = 'simpletable'; and/or define your own styles in your stylesheet. The "simpletable" class is available in the core skins, and can be redefined or overridden in pub/css/local.css.

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This page may have a more recent version on pmwiki.org: PmWiki:Tables, and a talk page: PmWiki:Tables-Talk.