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Q&A 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...

2 answers  ·  posted 8mo ago by pycoder‭  ·  last activity 8mo ago by hkotsubo‭

Question python regex markdown python-3
#1: Initial revision by user avatar pycoder‭ · 2026-01-12T17:11:31Z (8 months ago)
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?