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How to make tables in Markdown

Tables are part of GitHub-Flavored Markdown (GFM). You build them with pipes | for columns and a divider row of dashes - under the header.

Basic table

The header row comes first, then a divider row, then your data rows:

| Name  | Role     |
| ----- | -------- |
| Ada   | Engineer |
| Grace | Admiral  |

The outer pipes and extra spaces are optional — they just keep the source readable.

Column alignment

Add colons to the divider row to align a column: :--- left, :--: center, ---: right.

| Left | Center | Right |
| :--- | :----: | ----: |
| a    | b      | c     |
| dd   | ee     | ff    |

Good to know

• Tables can't contain block elements (lists, multiple paragraphs) inside a cell — keep cells short.
• Use inline formatting inside cells (**bold**, links, `code`).
• For big or messy tables, paste them into the live tools instead of hand-aligning.

Related: full cheat sheet · live editor.