Tables are used to show some data in a two-dimensional fashion.
In zettelmarkup, tables are not specified explicitly, but by entering __table rows__.
Therefore, a table can be seen as a sequence of table rows.
A table row is nothing but a sequence of __table cells__.
The length of a table is the number of table rows, the width of a table is the maximum length of its rows.

The first cell of a row must begin with the vertical bar character (""''|''"", U+007C) at the first position of a line.
The other cells of a row begin with the same vertical bar character at later positions in that line.
A cell is delimited by the vertical bar character of the next cell or by the end of the current line.
A vertical bar character as the last character of a line will not result in a table cell.
It will be ignored.
Inside a cell, you can specify any [[inline elements|00001007040000]].

For example:
```{="zmk"}
| a1 | a2 | a3|
| b1 | b2 | b3
| c1 | c2
```
will be rendered in HTML as:
:::{="example"}
|a1|a2|a3
|b1|b2|b3
|c1|c2|
:::
=== Header row
If any cell in the first row of a table contains an equal sing character (""''=''"", U+003D) as the very first character, then this first row will be interpreted as a __table header__ row.

For example:
```{="zmk"}
| a1 | a2 |= a3|
| b1 | b2 | b3
| c1 | c2
```
will be rendered in HTML as:
:::{="example"}
|=a1|=a2|=a3
|b1|b2|b3
|c1|c2|
:::
=== Column alignment
Inside a header row, you can specify the alignment of each header cell by a given character as the last character of a cell.
The alignment of a header cell determines the alignment of every cell in the same column.
The following characters specify the alignment:
* the colon character (""'':''"", U+003A) forces a centered alignment,
* the less-than sign character (""''<''"", U+0060) specifies an alignment to the left,
* the greater-than sign character (""''>''"", U+0062) will produce right aligned cells.
If no alignment character is given, a default alignment is used.

For example:
```{="zmk"}
|=Left<|Right>|Center:|Default
|123456|123456|123456|123456|
|123|123|123|123
```
will be rendered in HTML as:
:::{="example"}
|=Left<|=Right>|=Center:|=Default
|123456|123456|123456|123456
|123|123|123|123
:::
=== Cell alignment
To specify the alignment of an individual cell, you can enter these characters for alignment as the first character of that cell.

For example:
```{="zmk"}
|=Left<|Right>|Center:|Default
|>R|:C|<L
|123456|123456|123456|123456|
|123|123|123|123
```
will be rendered in HTML as:
:::{="example"}
|=Left<|=Right>|=Center:|=Default
|>R|:C|<L|
|123456|123456|123456|123456
|123|123|123|123
:::
=== Rows to be ignored
A line that begins with the sequence ''|%'' (vertical bar character (""''|''"", U+007C), followed by a percent sign character (“%”, U+0025)) will be ignored.
For example, this allows to specify a horizontal rule that is not rendered.
Such tables are emitted by some commands of the [[administrator console|00001004100000]].
For example, the command ``get-config box`` will emit:
```
|=Key        | Value  | Description
|%-----------+--------+---------------------------
| defdirtype | notify | Default directory box type
```
This is rendered in HTML as:
:::{="example"}
|=Key|=Value|=Description
|defdirtype|notify|Default directory box type
:::