Help:Advanced table features

This help page is a how-to guide. It explains concepts or processes used by the Wikipedia community. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, and may reflect varying levels of consensus.

Tables can be used as formatting instrument, but consider using a multi column list instead.

By default, text is aligned to the left of data cells.

By default, text is aligned to the center of header cells.

All of the above is true in both desktop and mobile view.

The alignment of header text in tables with class=wikitable stays centered regardless of global right or left text alignment via style=text-align:VALUE on the top line of table wikitext.

Header text alignment in tables without class=wikitable follows the global text alignment of the table.

Text alignment set in individual cells overrides everything else.

Note: For vertical alignment of text see: Help:Table#Vertical alignment in cells.

If there is no global text alignment set in the top line of the table wikitext, then all text is left aligned, except for header cells which are default center aligned.

Only in tables with class=wikitable does the header cell text not follow the global text alignment set in the top line of the table wikitext.

When using class=wikitable header text now stays centered in both desktop and mobile view unless specifically changed per header cell. This is true wherever the header row is located (top, bottom, middle). Global text alignment for non-header cells is done by putting style=text-align:VALUE in the top line of the table wikitext. See example in the next section.

Both tables below use class=wikitable The table to the right also aligns the text and data in all cells (except header cells) to the right.

If most columns consist of data cells, then you might choose to align the data to the right. It is easy.
Just add style=text-align:right to the top line of the wikitext for the table:

{| class=wikitable style=text-align:right

or

{| class="wikitable sortable" style=text-align:right

and so on.

There is no easy way to align a column of numbers so that the decimal points align. See multiple ways below.

One way to align columns of numbers at the decimal point is to use two columns, with the first right-justified and the second left-justified.

{| style="border-collapse: collapse;"
| style="text-align: right;" | 432 || .1
|-
| style="text-align: right;" | 43 || .21
|-
| style="text-align: right;" | 4 || .321
|}

If the column of numbers appears in a table with cell padding or cell borders, you can still align the decimal points without an unsightly gap in the middle, by forcing the border and padding between those two columns off.

{| class=wikitable
!colspan=2| Heading
|-
| style="text-align:right; border-right:none; padding-right:0;" | 432
| style="text-align:left;  border-left: none; padding-left: 0;" | .1
|-
| style="text-align:right; border-right:none; padding-right:0;" | 43
| style="text-align:left;  border-left: none; padding-left: 0;" | .21
|-
| style="text-align:right; border-right:none; padding-right:0;" | 4
| style="text-align:left;  border-left: none; padding-left: 0;" | .321
|}

Or alternatively the {{decimal cell}} template can be used:

{| class=wikitable
! colspan=2 |Heading
|-
| {{decimal cell|432.1}}
|-
| {{decimal cell|43.21}}
|-
| {{decimal cell|4.321}}
|}

Using two columns like this does have the disadvantage that searching the web page (either with a browser or a search engine) will usually not be able to find text that straddles the column boundary.

Also, if the table has cell spacing (and thus border-collapse=separate), meaning that cells have separate borders with a gap in between, that gap will still be visible.

A cruder way to align columns of numbers is to use a figure space   or  , which is intended to be the width of a numeral, though is font-dependent in practice:

{|
| 432.1
|-
|  43.21
|-
|   4.321
|}

More companions in this line are: punctuation space ( ) to substitute a period or a comma, − instead of the easily available on the typewriter's keyboard hyphen-dash – this is the same width as the plus sign, also figure dash possibly the most useful for telephone numbers which you obviously will not find on Wikipedia.

When using OpenType fonts one may also alternate between font-variant-numeric:tabular-nums and font-variant-numeric:proportional-nums – this is especially visible in the kerning of Arabic digit ⟨1⟩. In the standard browser sans-serif fonts ⟨1⟩ occupies the same width as other digits, ie. works as if font-variant-numerals:tabular-nums was turned on.

Some may find {{0}} useful for the alignment.

As a last resort, when using pre-formatted text, you can dispense with the table feature entirely and simply start the lines with a space, and put spaces to position the numbers—however, there should be a good reason to use pre-formatted text in an article:

 432.1
  43.21
   4.321

432.1
 43.21
  4.321

{{Table alignment}} can be used to align the cells in a whole column without adding code to each cell. For example, to left align the first column, center align the fourth column, and default align all other cells to the right:

{{Table alignment}}
{| class="wikitable sortable col1left col4center defaultright"

Place {{Table alignment}} just before the table and then add some classes to the table.

The "col" classes never affect the header cells.

The "default" classes also affect the header cells if wikitable class is not used. With the wikitable class header cell content is always centered unless individually adjusted.

See template for more info, limitations, examples.

Template:Table alignment (see previous section) will not work on columns of row headers. There are some other limitations listed at Template:Table alignment. In these cases you can try the following method for the first column only.

This can be done in the wikitext source editor. In editing preferences check the box labeled: "enable the editing toolbar. This is sometimes called the '2010 wikitext editor'."

In the table section click "edit source" (wikitext editing). Click on "Advanced" in the editing toolbar. Then click on the "search and replace" icon on the right. In the popup form check the box for "Treat search string as a regular expression".

Fill in the "Search for" box with (\|-\n\|)
Fill in the "replace with" box with

$1style=text-align:left|

Then click "Replace all". All the text in the first column will be aligned to the left of their cells.

If for some reason those cells are header cells, then fill in the "Search for" box with

(\|-\n\!)

Note the exclamation point for a header cell. Fill in the "replace with" box with

$1style=text-align:left|

Then click "Replace all".

Note: See also this version of Together Again (Janet Jackson song)#Charts. It uses {{col-begin}}, {{col-2}}, {{col-end}}.

You can place two or more tables side by side. But the tables must wrap (one dropping below the other) in narrow screens if horizontal scrolling is to be avoided. Narrow your browser window to see the tables below wrap. This works in mobile view too. Click on "mobile view" at the bottom of any Wikipedia page. These tables are adapted excerpts from versions of Iceland men's national handball team. Many sport articles have side by side tables.

Here is the relevant wikitext below. More info here. A blind editor who uses a screen reader says this method is OK.

<div style=display:inline-grid>
--Table--
</div>
<div style=display:inline-grid>
--Table--
</div>

The code box below was created by adding the same div around the whole syntaxhightlight box:

<div style=display:inline-grid>
--Table--
</div>
<div style=display:inline-grid>
--Table--
</div>

Note that the space between the above handball tables happens because </div> is on a line by itself. If you want no space use this:

</div><div style=display:inline-grid>

style=display:inline-grid can not be added within the table wikitext. It must be added outside the table wikitext. This is because the table captions will not be correctly placed in mobile portrait view, or other narrow mobile screens, when the tables wrap. This is especially noticeable if the caption is longer. In that case when one table drops below the other, then the caption will be severely wrapped above only the first column of the table.

You can add images to the mix too. Add vertical-align:top; to align an item to the top. See CSS vertical-align property for other options. The tables and images will wrap depending on screen width. Narrow your browser window to see. For example:

• <div style="display:inline-grid; vertical-align:top;">

Add vertical-align:bottom; to align an item to the bottom. You can choose the alignment for each item. Note the star aligned to the bottom.

You can add indentation by adding margin styling to the first div:

• <div style="display:inline-grid; vertical-align:top; margin-left:4em;">

These tables below wrap better with display:inline-table; instead of display:inline-grid;

Convert a US list/table to a state-by-state data map. With examples and step-by step instructions. Example:

Simple map below using another method. See its talk page for info.

Tables and images can also be floated to the right by adding float:right;

See example to the right from this version of List of U.S. states and territories by incarceration and correctional supervision rate.

<div style="display:inline-table; vertical-align:top; float:right;">
[[File:Female incarceration rates by country and US state.gif|thumb|none|upright=0.5|Female incarceration rates by country and US state.]]
</div>
<div style="display:inline-table; vertical-align:top; float:right;">
[[File:World incarceration rates if every U.S. state were a country.png|thumb|none|upright=0.5|World incarceration rates by country and US state.]]
</div>

A whole table can be placed within a scrolling div so that new table lines appear on the screen as old table lines disappear. See MOS:SCROLL, and Help:Scrolling list, and this article discussion.

<div style="height:7em; overflow:auto; border:2px solid red;">
{| class=wikitable
|-
| abc || def || ghi
|- style="height: 100px;"
| jkl || style="width: 100px;" | mno || pqr
|-
| stu || vwx || yz
|}
</div>

Adding -x to overflow:auto → overflow-x:auto forces overflowing table data to fit within page's width margin or otherwise predetermined wiki markup.

<div style="width:12em; overflow-x:auto; border:2px solid lime;">
{| class=wikitable style="width:25em"
|-
| abc || def || ghi
|- 
| jkl || style="height: 70px;" | mno || pqr
|-
| stu || vwx || yz
|}
</div>

History: See most recent Village Pump discussion. And other archived discussions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. See Phab:T42763. See also: Meta: Community Wishlist Survey 2022/Reading/floating table headers and meta:Community Wishlist Survey 2021/Reading/Enable sticky table headers.

Template:Sticky header creates a sticky scrolling table in the sense of the vertical scrollbar for the whole page. When you scroll the page the table headers stay visible when the table goes beyond the top of the screen. See also: Template:Sticky table start. It has an option for side sticky headers too. It puts the table in a scrollbox, and the scrollbars are part of that box.

See {{Sticky header}} examples below:

See list of articles transcluding {{sticky header}}. See transclusion count.

Note: Sticky left-side row headers do not work correctly if table is inside a collapsible show/hide box. See example. ("Timeshifter table" section)

See: Template:Sticky table start. It incorporates the old Covid CSS, and it is easier to use. See Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Sticky table start for examples.

There are several advanced scrolling tables (with row and column headers that stay visible and sticky while scrolling) in COVID-19 pandemic by country and territory and in COVID-19 pandemic deaths. The scrolling and sticky headers work in cell phones, too. Widest scrolling tables are on top of the list below. Narrow your browser window until you see a horizontal scroll bar. Drag it left and right to see the sticky row headers that stay visible.

• Template:2021 2nd half. Monthly cumulative COVID-19 death totals by country
• Template:2022 first half. Monthly cumulative COVID-19 death totals by country

A totally blind screen reader user noted in a discussion here that the scrolling tables in the related article (COVID-19 pandemic deaths) were not a problem.

These scrolling tables linked below with top/side sticky headers are also automatically updated. Narrow browser window to see sticky headers on the side.

• Template:COVID-19 pandemic death rates
• Template:COVID-19 vaccination data
• Template:COVID-19 pandemic death rates.
• Template:COVID-19 pandemic death rates by country.

See discussion:

• Template talk:COVID-19 pandemic death rates#Automation of updates.
• Template talk:COVID-19 vaccination data#Automation of updates to this template.

A table can be put in a template. For example, see this list of life expectancy table template subpages. You can search for template subpages:

• Special:PrefixIndex - choose the template namespace.

{{Excerpt}} is the simplest tool for transcluding a table that is not in a template. Go there for many options. The simplest method:

{{Excerpt|Page source of table|Section with the table|this=This table is}}

It transcludes the table to wherever it is placed. It adds the following indented note above it in italics. The page section is linked, and there is an edit link for the source page:

This table is an excerpt from Page source of table § Section with the table. [edit]

A hidden note <!-- NOTE --> just above the transcluded table is helpful. Such as:

Table below is currently transcluded from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_source_of_table#Section_with_the_table. If the source article or section name is changed, then the transclusion code below must also be changed.

A hidden note at the source section is helpful too. Such as:

Table below is transcluded into another page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_with_transcluded_table#Section_with_the_table. Nothing needs to be added here for this to work. As long as the table remains in its own section, and that section name remains the same, then the transclusion works. If the section name here changes, then please change it in the {{excerpt}} template there.

All broken excerpts are automatically tracked at Category:Articles with broken excerpts and regularly fixed.

See Help:Sortable tables for details of how to make sortable tables. Tables can be made sortable by adding class="wikitable sortable" to the top line of the table wikitext. Individual columns can then be excluded from sorting with class=unsortable in the lowest header cell. Note: that data-sort-type=VALUE must go in the header cell with the sorting icon. That will be the lowest header cell. (See Help:Sortable tables § Forcing a column to have a particular data type).

Classes can also be used to collapse tables, so they are hidden by default. Use the class mw-collapsible to enable collapsing behaviour. Collapsible tables can be sortable, too, by also including the sortable class (see § Sortable tables). By default, a collapsible table begins expanded. To change this, add the additional class mw-collapsed. Alternatively, you can add autocollapse, instead of mw-collapsed, which will automatically collapse the table if two or more collapsible elements are present on the page.

Note: Previous versions of this article recommended the collapsible class, but mw-collapsible is now preferred. It is a feature of the MediaWiki software, not a local customization, and can be used to make any element collapsible, not just tables. mw-collapsible also does not require a header row in the table, as collapsible did. Tables will show the "[hide]" / "[show]" controls in the first row of the table (whether or not it is a header row), unless a table caption is present.(see § Tables with captions)

Example with a header row

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! Header
|-
| Content that starts hidden
|-
| More hidden content
|}

Examples without a header row

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
|-
| First row is always visible
|-
| Content that starts visible
|}

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
| First row is always visible
|-
| Other rows start hidden
|}

Tables with captions

Tables with captions will collapse to the table caption. The header will not be visible when collapsed. Use {{nowrap}} to keep the caption from being fit into a tiny vertical column when the table is collapsed.

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
|+{{nowrap|Somewhat long table caption}}
|-
! Header
|-
| Content starts visible
|-
| More visible content
|}

Starting off collapsed:

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|+{{nowrap|Somewhat long table caption}}
|-
! Header
|-
| Content starts hidden
|-
| More hidden content
|}

Sorting and collapsing

It is possible to collapse a sortable table. To do so, you need to use this code:

class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"

For example:

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"
|+ Sortable and collapsible table
|-
! scope=col | Alphabetic
! scope=col | Numeric
! scope=col | Date
! scope=col class=unsortable | Unsortable
|-
| d || 20 || 2008-11-24 || This
|-
| b || 8 || 2004-03-01 || column
|-
| a || 6 || 1979-07-23 || cannot
|-
| c || 4.2 || 1492-12-08 || be
|-
| e || 0 || 1601-08-13 || sorted.
|}

If you want the table to default to collapsed state, use the code

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"

in place of

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"

Note: For usage examples, etc. go to {{row hover highlight}}.

To highlight rows upon hover, add {{row hover highlight}} (or its alias, {{mw-datatable}}) just above the table wikitext.

This enables use of class=mw-datatable and class=hover-highlight. Both add a light blue highlight when you hover your cursor over a table row. class=mw-datatable also makes the background of the non-header cells white. It does not override existing background colors set for cells or rows. (class=wikitable produces a light gray background for data cells.)

Background colors are common in table cells. In many sports articles for example. See here. For the accessibility reasons stated in WP:COLOR, information should not be communicated by the use of color alone.

Two ways of specifying color of text and background for a single cell are as follows:

{|
|-
| style="background-color: red; color: white;"|abc
| def
| style="background-color: red;"|<span style="color: white;">ghi</span>
| jkl
|}

Like other parameters, colors can also be specified for a whole row or the whole table; parameters for a row override the value for the table, and those for a cell override those for a row.

There is no easy way to specify a color for a whole column: each cell in the column must be individually specified. Tools can make it easier.^[which?]

{| style="background-color: yellow; color: green;"
|-
| stu || style="background-color: silver;" | vwx || yz
|- style="background-color: red; color: white;"
| stu || style="background-color: silver;" | vwx || yz
|-
| stu || style="background-color: silver;" | vwx || yz
|}

To force a cell to match one of the default colors of the class=wikitable template, use style="background-color:#EAECF0;"    for the darker header, and style="background-color:#F8F9FA;"    for the lighter body. #A2A9B1 is the wikitables border color.

Avoid using background: none or background: transparent. See:

• mw:Recommendations for night mode compatibility on Wikimedia wikis#Avoid using background: none or background: transparent

style="background-color:…" works in sortable header cells. style="background:…" does not. It breaks sorting in that cell. See Help:Sortable tables. So use style="background-color:…" for all column header cells whether currently sortable or not. Someone may attempt to make them sortable later.

See the link colors for various skins: Help:Link color#Standard colors. Unvisited Vector link: #3366CC. Visited Vector link: #795CB2.

Test contrast of link color with background color and text color:

• WebAIM: Link Contrast Checker.

Substitute various background colors for the default white Vector background (#FFFFFF):

• Unvisited Vector link color, white background color, and Vector text color.
• Visited Vector link color, white background color, and Vector text color.

From MOS:COLORS: For the default Vector 2022 skin normal text color is #202122, and unvisited blue link is #3366CC. "When links and references are not present, extra contrast is possible by setting the text color to pure black (#000000). If a dark background is desired, it should be used against white text (#FFFFFF) without links or references."

In dark mode in article namespace table cells with background colors have black underlined links. For example:

• List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries#Spain - scroll down a little to the table.

So any cell with WCAG-acceptable link color contrast in light mode has even better link color contrast in dark mode.

Unfortunately, the links are only black in article namespace. Not in template, help, talk, user, and other namespaces. For example see the Spain table template from the above-linked article: Template:2022–23 La Liga table.

Normally, copying and pasting columns or rows removes the inline CSS styling such as cell colors. There is a way to break up a table (a too-wide table for example) into more tables without losing all the background colors, and other inline styling. Copy the table to 2 sandboxes (or one sandbox, and in the article itself). Then delete the columns not needed on one of the new tables. Repeat in the other sandbox (or in the article) except delete different columns.

There are many off-wiki tables with useful coloring that meet WCAG access standards. Currently, there does not seem to be a way to copy those tables to a wiki and keep styling such as colors (background or text color). It is possible to convert PDF tables to Excel and keep the colors. Or to HTML tables and keep the colors. But there does not seem to be a way to copy any of those colored tables (PDF, Excel, HTML, etc.) to a wiki. If there is a way, please leave a note on Help talk:Table.

If desired one can keep the coloring by copying the table as an image. This may be necessary for frequently updated colored tables where it would be too time consuming to add color to many cells after each update. There is no problem with copyright for many data tables, colored or not. Many are in the public domain. See Commons:Template:PD-chart. Go here for more info:

• Help:Table#Public domain image tables

The types of table syntax that MediaWiki supports are:

1. Wikicode  |  syntax
2. HTML (and XHTML)
3. Mixed XHTML and wikicode (Do not use)

All three are supported by MediaWiki and create (currently) valid HTML output, but the § Wikicode syntax is the simplest. Mixed HTML and wikicode  |  syntax (i.e., unclosed  |  and |- tags) don't necessarily remain browser-supported in the future, especially on mobile devices.

See also HTML element#Tables.

Note, however, that the thead, tbody, tfoot, colgroup, and col elements are currently not supported in MediaWiki, as of January 2025^[update].

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>1</td>
    <td>2</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>3</td>
    <td>4</td>
  </tr>
</table>

{|
| 1 || 2
|-
| 3 || 4
|}

• Help:Table for general information about using tables. It also has many links in §§ See also​ and External links, which are not duplicated here.