[mini.align] LibreOffice Calc tables to Markdown

[raffaem]

I have made this keybinding that converts a table copied from LibreOffice Calc into a pandoc markdown table:

This:

• Escape % characters
• Convert tabs into | (column separators)
• Put a | at the end of each line
• Put a | at the start of each line
• Put the cursor at the first line
• Copy the first line and paste it right after
• Substitute the text in the second line with --- (define the first line as column headers)
• Select the entire table
• MISSING: Aligns the | on top of each other

vim.api.nvim_set_keymap(
  "n",
  "<LocalLeader>t",
  "vip:s/%/\\%/ge<CR>vip:s/\t/|/g<CR>vip:s/$/|/<CR>vip:s/^/|/<CR>vipo<Esc>yyp:s/.\\{-}|/---|/g<CR>dt|:nohlsearch<CR>vip",
  {
    noremap = true,
    desc = "Table: excel2md"
  }
)

The only thing I need is to align the | (column separators) on top of each other.

How can I do that programmatically with mini.align, by calling a LUA function?

[echasnovski]

Might appending something like ga|vip work? Here ga| aligns restored paragraph visual selection and vip again restores visual selection. This would require using noremap = false though.

If you have to use Lua function, take a look at MiniAlign.align_strings(). But using it in this use case (single mapping) doesn't look like straightforward.

With example of "before" and "after" the answer might have been more useful.

[raffaem]

Sorry for the lack of an example.

Here is an example before:

	2020	2021
Revenues	100	120
Expenses	80	90
Margin	20	30
Margin (%)	20.00%	25.00%

Here is the same example after:

|            | 2020   | 2021   |
| ---        | ---    | ---    |
| Revenues   | 100    | 120    |
| Expenses   | 80     | 90     |
| Margin     | 20     | 30     |
| Margin (%) | 20.00% | 25.00% |

This would require using noremap = false though.

Yeah the whole point is that I cannot use noremap = false.

I ended up with this final mapping which uses godlygeek's tabular.

It would be nice if mini.align would have easy commands like this.

vim.api.nvim_set_keymap(
  "n",
  "<LocalLeader>t",
  '"+pvip:s/%/\\%/ge<CR>vip:s/\t/|/g<CR>vip:s/$/|/<CR>vip:s/^/|/<CR>vipo<Esc>yyp:s/.\\{-}|/---|/g<CR>dt|:nohlsearch<CR>vip:Tabularize /|<CR>vip<',
  {
    noremap = true,
    desc = "Paste LOCalc 2 MD"
  }
)

[echasnovski]

Yeah the whole point is that I cannot use noremap = false.

Is there a particular reason for it? I'd say that the whole mapping uses uncontrovercial keys.

[echasnovski]

Here is how I would do it with Lua:

local excel_to_md = function()
  -- Initiate marks
  vim.cmd('normal! vip\27')

  -- Transform body
  vim.cmd([['<,'>s/%/\%/ge]])
  vim.cmd([['<,'>s/\t/|/g]])
  vim.cmd([['<,'>s/$/|/]])
  vim.cmd([['<,'>s/^/|/]])

  -- Transform header
  vim.cmd('normal! vipo\27yyp')
  vim.cmd([[s/.\{-}|/---|/g]])
  vim.cmd('normal! dt|')

  -- Align (requires 'mini.align')
  local from, to = vim.fn.line("'<"), vim.fn.line("'>")
  local lines = vim.api.nvim_buf_get_lines(0, from - 1, to, false)
  local aligned_lines = require('mini.align').align_strings(lines, { split_pattern = '|', merge_delimiter = ' ' })
  vim.api.nvim_buf_set_lines(0, from - 1, to, false, aligned_lines)

  -- Cleanup and restore visual selection
  vim.cmd('nohlsearch')
  vim.cmd('normal! vip')
end

vim.keymap.set('n', '<Leader>yl', excel_to_md, { desc = 'Table: excel2md' })

Although it takes much more space, I'd argue that this is at the same time much more readable and understandable.

[raffaem]

Thank you very much.

I'm also exploring other options for this like markdown-table-mode