Help:Table/History of pipe syntax development

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Wikicode table syntax, also known as pipe syntax, was developed by Magnus Manske as a substitute for HTML and employs the pipe character (i.e., vertical bar:  | ) and other symbols for HTML elements like <tr> and <td>. There is an online script, which converts an HTML table to a wikicode table.

The pipe character must start at the beginning of a new line, except when separating parameters from content or when using doubled pipes (||) to separate cells on a single code line. The parameters are optional.

Tables

A table is defined by {| parameters |}, which generates <table params>...</table>.

Rows

For each table, an HTML <tr> tag is generated for the first row. To start a new row, use:

|-

which generates another <tr>.

Parameters can be added like this:

|- params

which generates <tr params>.

Note:

• <tr> tags are automatically opened before the first <td> equivalent
• <tr> tags are automatically closed at another <tr> equivalent and at the </table> equivalent

Cells

Cells are generated either like this:

|cell1
|cell2
|cell3

or like this:

|cell1||cell2||cell3

which both generate:

<td>cell1</td><td>cell2</td><td>cell3</td>.

The || equals a newline +  | .

Parameters in cells can be used like this:

|params|cell1||params|cell2||params|cell3

which results in:

<td params>cell1</td>
<td params>cell2</td>
<td params>cell3</td>

Headers

The code used produces a <th>...</th>, functioning the same way as <td>...</td>, but with different style and semantic meaning. A  !  character is used instead of the opening  | , and !! can be used like ||, to enter multiple headers on the same line. Parameters still use "|", though. Example:

!params|cell1

Captions

A <caption> tag is created by |+caption which generates the HTML <caption>caption</caption>.

You can also use parameters: |+params|caption which generates <caption params>caption</caption>.