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My goal is to programatically convert Markdown tables to their HTML equivalents using regular expressions. I haven't been able to find any Python-compatible regexes for Markdown tables online, so I...
#1: Initial revision
Python-compatible regex for Markdown tables
My goal is to programatically convert Markdown tables to their HTML equivalents using regular expressions. I haven't been able to find any Python-compatible regexes for Markdown tables online, so I've been attempting to build my own. However, I've run into a bit of a snag. This is my code so far:
```
import re
# The text to be converted
markdown = """| Syntax | Description |
| ----------- | ----------- |
| Header | Title |
| Paragraph | Text |
"""
# Handles complex elements of the syntax
def assembleTable(match):
markdown = match.group(0)
# The problem line
html = re.sub(r'^\|(.*)\|\n(?:\| -{3,} )+\|$', r'<tr>\g<1></tr>', markdown, flags=re.MULTILINE)
return f'<table>\n{html}\n</table>'
# Basic table matching
html = re.sub(r'(?:^\|.*\|$\n?)+', assembleTable, markdown, flags=re.MULTILINE)
print(html)
```
It identifies a Markdown table and passes it into another function for processing, but the next step is where my trouble arises. The regex `^\|(.*)\|\n(?:\| -{3,} )+\|$` successfully matches a line of column headers, but I need to capture the individual headers' text so I can put them in \<th>\</th> tags. I've been experimenting on [regex101.com](https://regex101.com/) with `(\| (.+?) )+` and `( .+? +?\|?)`, but the headers' variable number and whitespace is throwing me off and making it hard to integrate into the header regex.
How can I capture the individual column headers' text?
