Help:Tables

Introduction

You can create a table by using the HTML code. However, Combine OverWiki offers a simpler way to create a table. If you have a table in HTML that you want to convert to a wiki-table, please refer to the Wiki-Table generators.

Pipe syntax tutorial

The Wiki table uses the | or pipe sign as a way to create a table. Below is an example and explanation of how to create a table.

• The entire table is encased with curly brackets and a vertical bar character (a pipe). So use {| to begin a table, and |} to end it. Each one needs to be on its own line:

{|
table code goes here
|}

• An optional table caption is included with a line starting with a vertical bar and plus sign "|+" and the caption after it:

{|
|+ caption
table code goes here
|}

• To start a new table row, type a vertical bar and a hyphen on its own line: "|-". The codes for the cells in that row will start on the next line.

{|
|+ The table's caption
|-
cell code goes here
|-
cell code goes here
|}

• Type the codes for each table cell in the next row, starting with a bar:

{|
|+ The table's caption
|-
| cell codes go here
|-
| cells in the next row go here
| more cells in the same row here
|}

• Cells can be separated with either a new line and new bar, or by a double bar "||" on the same line. Both produce the same output:

{|
|+ The table's caption
|-
|Cell 1 || Cell 2 || Cell 3
|-
|Cell A 
|Cell B
|Cell C
|}

• a row of column headings is identified by using "!" instead of "|", and using "!!" instead of "||". Header cells typically render differently than regular cells, depending on the browser. They are often rendered in a bold font and centered.

{|
|+ The table's caption
! Column heading 1 !! Column heading 2 !! Column heading 3
|-
|Cell 1 || Cell 2 || Cell 3
|-
|Cell A
|Cell B
|Cell C
|}

• the first cell of a row is identified as row heading by starting the line with "!" instead of "|", and starting subsequent data cells on a new line.

{|
|+ The table's caption
! Column heading 1 !! Column heading 2 !! Column heading 3
|-
! Row heading 1 
| Cell 2 || Cell 3
|-
! Row heading A 
|Cell B
|Cell C
|}

• Optional parameters can modify the behavior of cells, rows, or the entire table. For instance, a border could be added to the table:

{| border="1"
|+ The table's caption
! Column heading 1 !! Column heading 2 !! Column heading 3
|-
! Row heading 1
| Cell 2 || Cell 3
|-
! Row heading A
|Cell B ||Cell C
|}

The final table would display like this:

The table's caption

Column heading 1	Column heading 2	Column heading 3
Row heading 1	Cell 2	Cell 3
Row heading A	Cell B	Cell C

The table parameters and cell parameters are the same as in HTML, see [1] and HTML element#Tables.

A table can be useful even if none of the cells have content. For example, the background colors of cells can be changed with cell parameters, making the table into a diagram, like Template talk:Square 8x8 pentomino example. An "image" in the form of a table is much more convenient to edit than an uploaded image.

Each row must have the same number of cells as the other rows, so that the number of columns in the table remains consistent (unless there are cells which span several columns or rows, see colspan and rowspan in Mélange example below). For empty cells, use the non-breaking space   as content to ensure that the cells are displayed. To show a visible pipe in a cell, use <nowiki>|</nowiki> or &#124;.

Examples

Simple example

Both of these generate the same output. Choose a style based on the amount of cells in each row and the total text inside each cell.

Wiki markup

{| 
| Cell 1, row 1 
| Cell 2, row 1 
|- 
| Cell 1, row 2 
| Cell 2, row 2 
|}

{| 
| Cell 1, row 1 || Cell 2, row 1 
|- 
| Cell 1, row 2 || Cell 2, row 2 
|}

What it looks like in your browser

Cell 1, row 1	Cell 2, row 1
Cell 1, row 2	Cell 2, row 2

Multiplication table

Wiki markup

{| class="wikitable" style="background: #FFFFFF; text-align:center"
|+Multiplication table
|-
! × !! 1 !! 2 !! 3
|-
! 1
| 1 || 2 || 3
|-
! 2
| 2 || 4 || 6
|-
! 3
| 3 || 6 || 9
|-
! 4
| 4 || 8 || 12
|-
! 5
| 5 || 10 || 15
|}

What it looks like in your browser

Multiplication table

×	1	2	3
1	1	2	3
2	2	4	6
3	3	6	9
4	4	8	12
5	5	10	15

Color; scope of parameters

Two ways of specifying color of text and background for a single cell are as follows. The first form is preferred:

Wiki markup

{| 
| style="background:red; color:white" | abc
| def
| bgcolor="red" | <font color="white"> ghi </font>
| jkl
|}

What it looks like in your browser

abc

def

ghi

jkl

Like other parameters, colors can also be specified for a whole row or the whole table; parameters for a row override the value for the table, and those for a cell override those for a row:

Wiki markup

{| style="background:yellow; color:green"
|- 
| abc
| def
| ghi
|- style="background:red; color:white"
| jkl
| mno
| pqr
|-
| stu
| style="background:silver" | vwx
| yz
|}

What it looks like in your browser

abc	def	ghi
jkl	mno	pqr
stu	vwx	yz

To make the table blend in with the background, use style="background:none". (Warning: style="background:inherit", does not work with some browsers, including IE6!)

Width, height

The width and height of the whole table can be specified, as well as the height of a row. To specify the width of a column one can specify the width of an arbitrary cell in it. If the width is not specified for all columns, and/or the height is not specified for all rows, then there is some ambiguity, and the result depends on the browser.

Wiki markup

{| style="width:75%; height:200px" border="1"
|- 
| abc
| def
| ghi
|- style="height:100px" 
| jkl
| style="width:200px" |mno
| pqr
|-
| stu
| vwx
| yz
|}

What it looks like in your browser

abc	def	ghi
jkl	mno	pqr
stu	vwx	yz

Note that style="inline CSS" has no effect with some browsers. If it's important equivalent older constructs like width="75%" should work on more browsers.

Setting your column widths

If you wish to force column widths to your own requirements, rather than accepting the width of the widest text element in a column's cells, then follow this example. Note that wrap-around of text is forced.

{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
!width="50"|Name
!width="225"|Effect
!width="225"|Games Found In
|-
|Pokeball
|Regular Pokeball
|All Versions
|-
|Great Ball
|Better than a Pokeball
|All Versions
|}

Name	Effect	Games Found In
Pokeball	Regular Pokeball	All Versions
Great Ball	Better than a Pokeball	All Versions

Positioning

One can position the table itself, and all contents in a row, and contents in a cell, but not with a single parameter all contents in the table, see Table demo. Do not, under any circumstances, use "float" to position a table. It will break page rendering at large font sizes.

Mélange

Here's a more advanced example, showing some more options available for making up tables. You can play with these settings in your own table to see what effect they have. Not all of these techniques may be appropriate in all cases; just because you can add colored backgrounds, for example, doesn't mean it's always a good idea. Try to keep the markup in your tables relatively simple -- remember, other people are going to be editing the article too! This example should give you an idea of what is possible, though.

Wiki markup

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" align="center"
|+'''An example table'''
|-
! style="background:#efefef;" | First header
! colspan="2" style="background:#ffdead;" | Second header
|-
| upper left
|  
| rowspan=2 style="border-bottom:3px solid grey;" valign="top" |
right side
|-
| style="border-bottom:3px solid grey;" | lower left
| style="border-bottom:3px solid grey;" | lower middle
|-
| colspan="3" align="center" |
{| border="0"
|+''A table in a table''
|-
| align="center" width="150px" | [[File:wiki.png]]
| align="center" width="150px" | [[File:wiki.png]]
|-
| align="center" colspan="2" style="border-top:1px solid red; border-right:1px solid red; border-bottom:2px solid red; border-left:1px solid red;" |
Two Combine OverWiki logos
|}
|}

What it looks like in your browser

An example table

First header	Second header
upper left		right side
lower left	lower middle
A table in a table Two Combine OverWiki logos

Floating table

Wiki markup

This paragraph is before the table. Lorem ipsum ...
{| align="right" border="1"
| Col 1, row 1 
|rowspan="2"| Col 2, row 1 (and 2) 
| Col 3, row 1 
|- 
| Col 1, row 2 
| Col 3, row 2 
|}
Note the floating table to the right. This paragraph is after the table. Lorem ipsum ...

What it looks like in your browser

This paragraph is before the table. Lorem ipsum ...

Col 1, row 1	Col 2, row 1 (and 2)	Col 3, row 1
Col 1, row 2		Col 3, row 2

Note the floating table to the right. This paragraph is after the table. Lorem ipsum ...

Nested tables

This shows one table (in blue) nested inside another table's cell2. Nested tables have to start on a new line. Wiki markup

{| border="1"
| α
| align="center" | cell2
{| border="2" style="background-color:#ABCDEF;"
| NESTED
|-
| TABLE
|}
| valign="top" | the original table again
|}

What it looks like in your browser

α

cell2 NESTED TABLE

the original table again

Combined use of COLSPAN and ROWSPAN

Wiki markup

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
|-
! Column 1 || Column 2 || Column 3
|-
| rowspan="2"| A
| colspan="2" align="center"| B
|-
| C
| D
|-
| E
| colspan="2" align="center"| F
|- 
| rowspan="3"| G
| H
| I
|- 
| J
| K
|-
| colspan="2" align="center"| L
|}

What it looks like in your browser

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
A	B
	C	D
E	F
G	H	I
	J	K
	L

Centering tables

Centered tables can be achieved, but they will not "float"; that is to say, no text will appear to either side. The trick is {| style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"

Wiki markup

[[Category:Pages containing wikitables]]{| class="wikitable" style="background: #FFFFFF; margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ '''Cells left-aligned, table centered'''
! Duis || aute || irure
|-
| dolor || in reprehenderit || in voluptate velit
|-
| esse cillum dolore || eu fugiat nulla || pariatur.
|}

What it looks like in your browser

{| class="wikitable" style="background: #FFFFFF; margin: 1em auto 1em auto"

|+ Cells left-aligned, table centered ! Duis || aute || irure |- | dolor || in reprehenderit || in voluptate velit |- | esse cillum dolore || eu fugiat nulla || pariatur. |}

Setting parameters

At the start of a cell, add your parameter followed by a single pipe. For example width=300px| will set that cell to a width of 300 pixels. To set more than one parameter, leave a space between each one. Note that this works for heading cells as well.

Wiki markup

{| style="color:white"
|-
! bgcolor="red"|cell1 || width="300" bgcolor="blue"|cell2 || bgcolor="green"|cell3
|}

What it looks like in your browser

cell1	cell2	cell3

Decimal point alignment

A method to get columns of numbers aligned at the decimal point is as follows: Wiki markup

{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"
|align="right"| 432 || .1
|-
|align="right"| 43 || .21
|-
|align="right"| 4 || .321
|}

What it looks like in your browser

432	.1
43	.21
4	.321

If the column of numbers appears in a table with cell padding or cell spacing, one can still align the decimal points without an unsightly gap in the middle. Embed a table in each number's cell and specify its column widths. Make the embedded tables' column widths the same for each cell in the column. (If decimal points are still misaligned using this method, the main table's column may be too narrow. Add a parameter to increase the column's width.) Wiki markup

{|border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="2" width="72"
|
{|cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
|align="right" width="50%"| 432 ||width="50%"| .1
|}
|-
|
{|cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
|align="right" width="50%"| 43 ||width="50%"| .21
|}
|-
|
{|cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
|align="right" width="50%"| 4 ||width="50%"| .321
|}
|}

What it looks like in your browser

432 .1

43 .21

4 .321

In simple cases one can dispense with the table feature and simply start the lines with a space, and put spaces to position the numbers:

432.1
43.21
4.321

Style classes

Some users have created CSS classes and templates to make table styles easier. Instead of remembering table parameters, you just include an appropriate style class after the {|. This helps keep table formatting consistent, and can allow a single change to the class to fix a problem or enhance the look of all the tables that are using it at once. For instance, this:

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" |+Multiplication table |- ! × !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 |- ! 1 | 1 || 2 || 3 |- ! 2 | 2 || 4 || 6 |- ! 3 | 3 || 6 || 9 |- ! 4 | 4 || 8 || 12 |- ! 5 | 5 || 10 || 15 |}		Multiplication table × 1 2 3 1 1 2 3 2 2 4 6 3 3 6 9 4 4 8 12 5 5 10 15
becomes this:
{| class="wikitable" |+Multiplication table |- ! × !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 |- ! 1 | 1 || 2 || 3 |- ! 2 | 2 || 4 || 6 |- ! 3 | 3 || 6 || 9 |- ! 4 | 4 || 8 || 12 |- ! 5 | 5 || 10 || 15 |}		Multiplication table × 1 2 3 1 1 2 3 2 2 4 6 3 3 6 9 4 4 8 12 5 5 10 15

simply replace the parameters of the table (border="1" cellpadding="2" or the like) with class="wikitable". This is because the wikitable class in MediaWiki:Common.css contains a number of table.wikitable CSS style rules. These are all applied at once when you mark a table with the class. You can then add additional style rules if desired. These override the class's rules, allowing you to use the class style as a base and build up on it: Wiki markup

{| class="wikitable" style="background: #FFFFFF; font-style:italic; font-size:120%; border:3px dashed red;"
|+Multiplication table
|-
! × !! 1 !! 2 !! 3
|-
! 1
| 1 || 2 || 3
|-
! 2
| 2 || 4 || 6
|-
! 3
| 3 || 6 || 9
|-
! 4
| 4 || 8 || 12
|-
! 5
| 5 || 10 || 15
|}

What it looks like in your browser

Multiplication table

×	1	2	3
1	1	2	3
2	2	4	6
3	3	6	9
4	4	8	12
5	5	10	15

Notice that the table retains the gray background of the wikitable class, and the headers are still bold and centered. But now the text formatting has been overridden by the local style statement; all of the text in the table has been made italic and 120% normal size, and the wikitable border has been replaced by the red dashed border.