User:David Hedlund/MediaWiki table to TSV conversion
Contents
Mastering the manual conversion between MediaWiki tables and tab-separated values (TSV) is essential for effective management of MediaWiki content. While scripts can automate this process, relying solely on them may lead to difficulties if you forget the script's name or don't have access to it. By understanding the fundamental structure of both formats, you can confidently handle MediaWiki tables even without automated tools.
For tables with entries on a single line
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Column 1 !! Column 2 !! Column 3
|-
| Hello || World || Bye
|-
| Foo || Bar || Baz
|-
|}
Convert MediaWiki table to (TSV)
- Copy the table entries[1]
- Replace "|-\n| " with nothing
- Replace " || " with "\t" to make Libreoffice Calc display them in columns[3]
- Open Libreoffic Calc
- Create a new spreadsheet
- Copy/paste the modified text to Libreoffice Calc. The data should now be separate into the A, B, and C column.
- Modify the entries
Convert TSV to MediaWiki table
- Copy the cells from Libreoffice Calc to a text editor
- Add an initial blank line to the top
- Replace "\n" with "\n|-\n| "
- Replace "\t" with " || "
For tables with entries spanning multiple lines
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Column 1
! Column 2
! Column 3
|-
! Hello
| World
| Bye
|-
! Foo
| Bar
| Baz
|-
|}
Convert MediaWiki table to TSV
- Copy the table entries[2]
- To a text editor, copy paste the whole table except the table headers and "|}"
- Replace "|-\n! " with nothing to only keep the data lines
- Replace "\n| " with "\t" to make Libreoffice Calc display them in columns. Should now look like[3]
- Open Libreoffic Calc
- Create a new spreadsheet
- Copy/paste the modified text to Libreoffice Calc. The data should now be separate into the A, B, and C column.
- Modify the entries
Convert TSV to MediaWiki table
- Copy the cells from Libreoffice Calc to a text editor
- Add an initial blank line to the top
- Replace "\n" with "\n|-\n! "
- Replace "\t" with "\n| "
Refs
1.
|- | Hello || World || Bye |- | Foo || Bar || Baz
2.
|- ! Hello | World | Bye |- ! Foo | Bar | Baz
3.
Hello World Bye Foo Bar Baz
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