tables-basics.md

Markdown Tables Basics

There are some distinctions between Markdown and GitHub Flavored Markdown, but I only use Markdown on GitHub since it't what I'm most familiar with and what I need to remember. It's probably where most people use Markdown the most.

Markdown tables are pretty awesome, quick, and most of the syntax is intuitive. Cells can contain Markdown with some exceptions, like block elements:

• Fenced code blocks (```\n```)
• Blockquotes (>)
• Collapsible sections (<details><summary></summary></details>)

Markdown tables, like Markdown in general, can contain images and HTML.

This is what I normally do:

| Column A | Column B |
|--|--|
| A1 | B1 |

Column A	Column B
A1	B1

Colons (:) align columns

| Default = Left-align |   Centered    | Right-aligned |
| -------------------- | :-----------: | ------------: |
| col 2 is             |   centered    |         $1600 |
| col 3 is             | right-aligned |           $12 |

Default = Left-align	Centered	Right-aligned
col 2 is	centered	$1600
col 3 is	right-aligned	$12

The outer pipes (|) are optional, and you don't need to make the raw Markdown line up prettily. You can also use inline Markdown.

Markdown | Less | Pretty
--- | --- | ---
*Still* | `renders` | **nicely**
1 | 2 | 3

Markdown	Less	Pretty
Still	renders	nicely
1	2	3

Resources

• Markdown Cheatsheet.
• Markdown Explained.
• Free online Markdown editor with live preview. It can even convert HTML files to Markdown!
• The original Markdown spec and syntax.
• Interactive Markdown tutorial that unfortunately does not cover tables but is otherwise nicely done.