plugin(table): Add option to remove padding from tables

cli/html2markdown/cmd/cmd_convert.go

@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ func (cli *CLI) convert(input []byte) ([]byte, error) {
 				table.WithSpanCellBehavior(table.SpanCellBehavior(cli.config.tableSpanCellBehavior)),
 				table.WithPresentationTables(cli.config.tablePresentationTables),
 				table.WithNewlineBehavior(table.NewlineBehavior(cli.config.tableNewlineBehavior)),
+				table.WithCellPadding(table.CellPaddingBehavior(cli.config.tableCellPaddingBehavior)),
 			),
 		)
 	}

cli/html2markdown/cmd/exec.go

@@ -40,12 +40,13 @@ type Config struct {
 	// - - - - - Plugins - - - - - //
 	enablePluginStrikethrough bool
 
-	enablePluginTable       bool
-	tableSkipEmptyRows      bool
-	tableHeaderPromotion    bool
-	tableSpanCellBehavior   string
-	tablePresentationTables bool
-	tableNewlineBehavior    string
+	enablePluginTable        bool
+	tableSkipEmptyRows       bool
+	tableHeaderPromotion     bool
+	tableSpanCellBehavior    string
+	tablePresentationTables  bool
+	tableNewlineBehavior     string
+	tableCellPaddingBehavior string
 }
 
 // Release holds the information (from the 3 ldflags) that goreleaser sets.

cli/html2markdown/cmd/flags.go

@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@ func (cli *CLI) initFlags(progname string) {
 	cli.flags.StringVar(&cli.config.tableSpanCellBehavior, "opt-table-span-cell-behavior", "", `[for --plugin-table] how colspan/rowspan should be rendered: "empty" or "mirror"`)
 	cli.flags.BoolVar(&cli.config.tablePresentationTables, "opt-table-presentation-tables", false, `[for --plugin-table] whether tables with role="presentation" should be converted`)
 	cli.flags.StringVar(&cli.config.tableNewlineBehavior, "opt-table-newline-behavior", "", `[for --plugin-table] how tables containing newlines should be handled: "skip" or "preserve"`)
+	cli.flags.StringVar(&cli.config.tableCellPaddingBehavior, "opt-table-cell-padding", "", `[for --plugin-table] whether cells in the tables should include extra padding for visual continuity: "aligned", "minimal", or "none"`)
 }
 
 func (cli *CLI) parseFlags(args []string) error {
@@ -120,6 +121,9 @@ func (cli *CLI) parseFlags(args []string) error {
 	if cli.config.tableNewlineBehavior != "" && !cli.config.enablePluginTable {
 		return fmt.Errorf("--opt-table-newline-behavior requires --plugin-table to be enabled")
 	}
+	if cli.config.tableCellPaddingBehavior != "" && !cli.config.enablePluginTable {
+		return fmt.Errorf("--opt-table-cell-padding requires --plugin-table to be enabled")
+	}
 
 	// TODO: use constant for flag name & use formatFlag
 	//       var keyStrongDelimiter = "opt-strong-delimiter"

cli/html2markdown/cmd/testdata/TestExecute/[general]_help_pipe/stdout.golden

@@ -72,6 +72,9 @@ Use a HTML sanitizer before displaying the HTML in the browser!
         Make bold text. Should <strong> be indicated by two asterisks or two underscores?
         "**" or "__" (default: "**")
 
+    --opt-table-cell-padding
+        [for --plugin-table] whether cells in the tables should include extra padding for visual continuity: "aligned", "minimal", or "none"
+
     --opt-table-header-promotion
         [for --plugin-table] first row should be treated as a header
 

cli/html2markdown/cmd/testdata/TestExecute/[general]_help_terminal/stdout.golden

@@ -72,6 +72,9 @@ Use a HTML sanitizer before displaying the HTML in the browser!
         Make bold text. Should <strong> be indicated by two asterisks or two underscores?
         "**" or "__" (default: "**")
 
+    --opt-table-cell-padding
+        [for --plugin-table] whether cells in the tables should include extra padding for visual continuity: "aligned", "minimal", or "none"
+
     --opt-table-header-promotion
         [for --plugin-table] first row should be treated as a header
 

plugin/table/3_render.go

@@ -73,7 +73,11 @@ func (s *tablePlugin) writeHeaderUnderline(w converter.Writer, alignments []stri
 			w.WriteString("-")
 		}
 
-		w.WriteString(strings.Repeat("-", maxLength))
+		if s.cellPaddingBehavior == CellPaddingAligned {
+			w.WriteString(strings.Repeat("-", maxLength))
+		} else {
+			w.WriteString("-")
+		}
 
 		if align == "right" || align == "center" {
 			w.WriteString(":")
@@ -90,16 +94,24 @@ func (s *tablePlugin) writeRow(w converter.Writer, counts []int, cells [][]byte)
 		if isFirstCell {
 			w.WriteString("|")
 		}
-		w.WriteString(" ")
-		w.Write(cell)
 
 		currentCount := utf8.RuneCount(cell)
 		filler := counts[i] - currentCount
 
-		if filler > 0 {
+		if s.cellPaddingBehavior == CellPaddingAligned || s.cellPaddingBehavior == CellPaddingMinimal {
+			w.WriteString(" ")
+		}
+
+		w.Write(cell)
+
+		if s.cellPaddingBehavior == CellPaddingAligned && filler > 0 {
 			w.WriteString(strings.Repeat(" ", filler))
 		}
 
-		w.WriteString(" |")
+		if s.cellPaddingBehavior == CellPaddingAligned || s.cellPaddingBehavior == CellPaddingMinimal {
+			w.WriteString(" ")
+		}
+
+		w.WriteString("|")
 	}
 }

plugin/table/table.go

@@ -71,6 +71,39 @@ func WithNewlineBehavior(behavior NewlineBehavior) option {
 	}
 }
 
+type CellPaddingBehavior string
+
+const (
+	// CellPaddingAligned adds visual padding to cells to make each column equal width (default).
+	CellPaddingAligned CellPaddingBehavior = "aligned"
+	// CellPaddingMinimal keeps a very small amount of padding to balance table readability while also reducing character count.
+	CellPaddingMinimal CellPaddingBehavior = "minimal"
+	// CellPaddingNone refrains from adding the padding to the cells.
+	CellPaddingNone CellPaddingBehavior = "none"
+)
+
+// WithPadColumns configures how to handle padding in table cells.
+// When set to "aligned" (default), every cell's text is padded to the width of the largest cell in its column.
+// When set to "minimal", every cell gets a space at the beginning and end of the cell for some minimal padding.
+// When set to "none", no extra padding is applied to cells.
+func WithCellPadding(behavior CellPaddingBehavior) option {
+	return func(p *tablePlugin) error {
+		switch behavior {
+		case "":
+			// Allow empty string to default to "aligned"
+			p.cellPaddingBehavior = CellPaddingBehavior(CellPaddingAligned)
+			return nil
+
+		case CellPaddingAligned, CellPaddingMinimal, CellPaddingNone:
+			p.cellPaddingBehavior = behavior
+			return nil
+
+		default:
+			return fmt.Errorf("unknown value %q for pad columns behavior", behavior)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 // WithSkipEmptyRows configures the table plugin to omit empty rows from the output.
 // An empty row is defined as a row where all cells contain no content or only whitespace.
 // When set to true, empty rows will be omitted from the output. When false (default),
@@ -113,6 +146,7 @@ type tablePlugin struct {
 	skipEmptyRows             bool
 	promoteFirstRowToHeader   bool
 	convertPresentationTables bool
+	cellPaddingBehavior       CellPaddingBehavior
 }
 
 func (p *tablePlugin) setError(err error) {