Help:Tables

Quick and easy using the "Simple Table" feature
This is not table syntax, but a quick and easy way to generate a simple table.


 * Instructions to created a Simple Table

Introduction
Tables may be authored in wiki pages using either HTML table elements directly, or using wikicode formatting to define the table. HTML table elements and their use are well described on various web pages and will not be discussed here. The benefit of wikicode is that the table is constructed of character symbols which tend to make it easier to perceive the table structure in the article editing view compared to HTML table elements.

A good general rule of thumb is to avoid using a table unless you need to. Table markup often complicates page editing.

Wiki table markup summary

 * The above marks must start on a new line except the double || and !! for optionally adding consecutive cells to a line.
 * XHTML attributes. Each mark, except table end, optionally accepts one or more XHTML attributes. Attributes must be on the same line as the mark. Separate attributes from each other with a single space.
 * Cells and caption ( | or ||, ! or !!, and |+ ) hold content. So separate any attributes from content with a single pipe (|). Cell content may follow on same line or on following lines.
 * Table and row marks ( {| and |- ) do not directly hold content. Do not add pipe (|) after their optional attributes. If you erroneously add a pipe after attributes for the table mark or row mark the parser will delete it and your final attribute if it was touching the erroneous pipe!
 * Content may (a) follow its cell mark on the same line after any optional XHTML attributes or (b) on lines below the cell mark. Content that uses wiki markup that itself needs to start on a new line, such as lists, headers, or nested tables, must of course be on its own new line.

Using the "wikitable" class
A standard table style sheet can be used by inserting Class="wikitable".

Plain
The following table lacks borders and good spacing but shows the simplest wiki markup table structure {| width="100%"
 * width="50%"|
 * width="50%"|


 * }

Alternative
For more table-ish looking wiki markup cells can be listed on one line separated by ||. This does not scale well for longer cell content such as paragraphs. It works well for short bits of content however, such as our example table.

Extra spaces within cells in the wiki markup can be added, as I have done in the wiki markup below, to make the wiki markup itself look better but they do not affect the actual table rendering.

HTML attributes can be added to this table following the examples in other tables on this page but have been left out of the following example for simplicity. {| width="100%"
 * width="50%"|
 * width="50%"|


 * }

With HTML attributes
You can add HTML attributes to make your table look better

border="1"
{| width="100%"
 * width="50%"|
 * width="50%"|


 * }

align="center" border="1"
{| width="100%"
 * width="50%"|
 * width="50%"|


 * }

align="right" border="1"
You can put attributes on individual cells. Numbers for example may look better aligned right {| width="100%"
 * width="50%"|
 * width="50%"|


 * }

You can put attributes on individual rows, too. {| width="100%"
 * width="50%"|
 * width="50%"|


 * }

cellspacing="0" border="1"
{| width="100%"
 * width="50%"|
 * width="50%"|


 * }

cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" border="1"
{| width="100%"
 * width="50%"|
 * width="50%"|


 * }

With HTML attributes and CSS styles
CSS style attributes can be added with or without other HTML attributes

style="color:green;background-color:#ffffcc;" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" border="1"
{| width="100%"
 * width="50%"|
 * width="50%"|


 * }

Table with TH headings
TH (HTML table headings) can be created by using ! instead of |. Headings usually show up bold and centered by default.

Each column
{| width="100%"
 * width="50%"|
 * width="50%"|


 * }

Default
{| width="100%"
 * width="50%"|
 * width="50%"|


 * }

Right justify
Right justified side headings can be done as follows {| width="100%"
 * width="50%"|
 * width="50%"|


 * }

Caption
A table caption can be added to the top of any table as follows {| width="100%"
 * width="50%"|
 * width="50%"|


 * }

Attributes can be added to the caption as follows

{| width="100%"
 * width="50%"|
 * width="50%"|


 * }

Table with H1, H2, H3 etc. headings
HTML H1, H2, H3, H4 etc. headings can be created the standard wiki markup way with ==equal== signs and must be on a line all by themselves to work.

Preview the whole table. If you click on an edit tab for a heading within a table, edit, and preview, the parent table will display erroneously broken because part of it will be missing.

Keep the heading hierarchy consistent with the rest of the page so that the table of contents at page top works correctly.

{| width="100%" {| border="1" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0"
 * width="50%"|
 * colspan="2"|

Yummiest
{| border="1" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0"
 * Orange
 * Apple
 * Bread
 * Pie
 * Butter
 * Ice cream
 * }
 * width="50%"|
 * Ice cream
 * }
 * width="50%"|
 * colspan="2"|

Yummiest

 * Orange
 * Apple
 * Bread
 * Pie
 * Butter
 * Ice cream
 * }
 * Butter
 * Ice cream
 * }
 * }

Issues that require special attention
Sometimes a table will fail to display. A good place to start when troubleshooting the problem is how the various characters might be interpreted.

Negative numbers
When the cell contents begin with a negative number, if the negative sign is placed adjacent to the pipe at the beginning of the line, as in |-6, the characters, |-, will be interpreted as a new row and the 6 will fail to display altogether. To correct for the issue is easy:
 * If you start a cell on a new line with a negative number or a parameter that evaluates to a negative number, insert a space before the value, as in | -6, or use in-line cell markup, ||-6.

Tables included within pedagogical templates
When table syntax is included within a pedagogical template, the table may fail to display altogether and displayed instead is the beginning left curly bracket, {. The issue here is the use of the pipe character, |, as it is also used in the syntax of the pedagogical template.

One way around this issue is to use the Simple Table extension.

Another option is to encode the pipe character using a template. Template:! can be used for this purpose, where | is inserted in place of each instance of the pipe character. For example:

It looks messy, but using copy and paste it is easy to create from the original table syntax.

Note that templates other than pedagogical templates may have this issue, that is, any template that uses a pipe character in its syntax structure.