Tables

BachMark supports pipe tables compatible with GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM).

INFO

CommonMark does not define tables. In pure CommonMark, pipe-separated lines are just normal paragraphs. BachMark (like GFM) recognizes them as tables.

Basic syntax

A table consists of:

1. a header row
2. a delimiter row (dashes + optional colons for alignment)
3. zero or more body rows

| Name | Type | Notes |
| ---- | ---- | ----- |
| Alex | Dev  | likes *italics* |
| Bea  | Ops  | `kubectl` |

Minimal syntax

Tables can be written very compactly. The outer pipes are optional, and the delimiter row only requires two dashes per column:

Name | Type | Notes
-- | -- | --
Alex | Dev | ok

This is valid and parses identically to the full version above. However, the padded style with outer pipes is strongly preferred for readability:

| Name | Type | Notes |
| ---- | ---- | ----- |
| Alex | Dev  | ok    |

TIP

An official BachMark formatter is planned that can automatically reformat tables into the padded style.

Alignment

Alignment is defined in the delimiter row:

Delimiter	Alignment
:---	Left
---:	Right
:---:	Center
---	Default (renderer decides)

| left | center | right |
| :--- | :----: | ----: |
| a    | b      | c     |

What can go inside cells?

Cells support inline content — the same things you can put in a paragraph: emphasis, links, images, inline code, math ($...$), footnote references, subscript/superscript, and inline variables ().

Block-level elements are not allowed inside table cells (no lists, no blockquotes, no fenced code blocks).

Escaping pipes

To write a literal | in a cell, escape it as \|:

| value |
| ----- |
| a \| b |
| `\|` inside code |
| **\|** inside bold |

Parsing rules

Header row must match delimiter row

The number of cells in the header row must match the delimiter row. If they don't match, it's not recognized as a table — it stays normal text.

Body rows may have fewer or more cells

• Fewer cells → missing cells become empty.
• More cells → extra cells are ignored.

Table ends on a blank line or another block

A table stops at the first blank line, or at the beginning of another block-level structure (heading, blockquote, list, fenced code block, etc.).

Put a blank line after a table to avoid accidental continuation into the next paragraph.

Best practices

• Always use leading and trailing | for readability.
• Keep the column count consistent across rows.
• Add a blank line after tables.
• Use \| when your content contains literal pipes.
• For presentation control beyond alignment, see Table Style.