How do I add a newline in a markdown table?

Question

I have the following cells in a markdown table:

something	something that's rather long and goes on for a very long time	something else

I'd like to be able to insert a break in the middle line, so the middle column isn't so wide. How can I do that in Markdown? Do I need to use HTML tables instead?

When using `
` be careful that you don't leave any space in the front(indentation). I've had the same problem but when I removed the tab space it worked. — Varun Kumar, Sep 23 '19 at 10:18

score 624 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 22 '22 at 12:27

624

Use an HTML line break (<br />) to force a line break within a table cell:

| something | something that's rather long and <br />goes on for a very long time | something else |
|-----------|---------------------------------------------------------------|----------------|

Rendered:

something	something that's rather long and goes on for a very long time	something else

edited Jul 22 '22 at 12:27

mikemaccana

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answered Aug 25 '12 at 05:03

jwal

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The
syntax works only when you convert to HTML - at least in `pandoc`. – halloleo Jul 05 '15 at 04:11
10

The `
` syntax also works on GitLab, which uses [Redcarpet Ruby library](https://github.com/vmg/redcarpet) for Markdown processing ([reference](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/markdown.html)) – Dinei Aug 18 '17 at 15:45
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To whomever edited this answer on 14 November 2020: You have introduced a syntax error by adding a backslash to the tag. Backslashes don't close tags in HTML. I can't edit the answer myself because of the minimum character limit. – Psychonaut Nov 26 '20 at 10:44
This works for Obsidian as well – Brent George Nov 03 '22 at 20:09

score 60 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 10 '15 at 08:42

60

When you're exporting to HTML, using <br> works. However, if you're using pandoc to export to LaTeX/PDF as well, you should use grid tables:

+---------------+---------------+--------------------+
| Fruit         | Price         | Advantages         |
+===============+===============+====================+
| Bananas       | first line\   | first line\        |
|               | next line     | next line          |
+---------------+---------------+--------------------+
| Bananas       | first line\   | first line\        |
|               | next line     | next line          |
+---------------+---------------+--------------------+

answered Oct 10 '15 at 08:42

mb21

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Sublime Text has a nice package for this: https://packagecontrol.io/packages/Table%20Editor It is no longer maintained, but everything is still fine with it! – fnurl Feb 26 '16 at 06:29
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Why didn't they invent this from the very beginning into markdown?! – Endless May 07 '17 at 10:03
3

I'm using Markdown Preview Extended in VSCode to generate PDF with LaTeX via Pandoc. I put `\newline` (a LaTeX command) inside the table, which passes through because there is an option to allow raw tex. However, this text appears in the preview browser. – Fuhrmanator Dec 11 '19 at 15:20

score 15 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 24 '16 at 12:59

15

Use <br/> . For example:

Change log, upgrade version

Dependency | Old version | New version |
---------- | ----------- | -----------
Spring Boot | `1.3.5.RELEASE` | `1.4.3.RELEASE`
Gradle | `2.13` | `3.2.1`
Gradle plugin <br/>`com.gorylenko.gradle-git-properties` | `1.4.16` | `1.4.17`
`org.webjars:requirejs` | `2.2.0` | `2.3.2`
`org.webjars.npm:stompjs` | `2.3.3` | `2.3.3`
`org.webjars.bower:sockjs-client` | `1.1.0` | `1.1.1`

URL: https://github.com/donhuvy/lsb/wiki

answered Dec 24 '16 at 12:59

Vy Do

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This seems to be a copy of the other answer from four years earlier. – mikemaccana Aug 25 '22 at 09:34
works with readme.io. I tried \\ as explained above and that did not work withr reame.io. – Walker Rowe Dec 15 '22 at 07:18
Yes,
works for Readme. e.g: Microsoft VSCode previewing Markdown document. – Aisuko Jan 13 '23 at 06:25

ElChiniNet · Answer 4 · 2018-07-23T12:18:20.333

15

Just for those that are trying to do this on Jira. Just add \\ at the end of each line and a new line will be created:

|Something|Something else \\ that's rather long|Something else|

Will render this:

Source: Text breaks on Jira

edited Jul 23 '18 at 12:18

answered Jul 23 '18 at 12:13

ElChiniNet

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Nice answer. Also here's a hug for having to use JIRA: – mikemaccana Jul 23 '18 at 13:56
6

Unfortunately it does not work in other markdown viewers I use (e.g. Bitbucket.org or Markdown viewer Chrome browser extension by Simov) – Jan Šotola May 07 '19 at 14:41

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 16 '23 at 03:26

2

I am surprised nobody posted the ascii code for new character in case your renderer does not know about HTML and <br/>, but supports characters like non-breaking space ( ). So just add new line 
 or even carriage return  - it may work.

For instance: |Something | Line 1 
 line 2 | Something else| works fine in my case, but not in the stackoverflow interpreter...

answered Mar 16 '23 at 03:26

fabrica

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Interesting - if you add the markdown implementation or app this applies for to your answer I'll upvote the answer – mikemaccana Mar 16 '23 at 11:03
Thanks! The only way to get it to work in Mattermost – DerManu Jul 21 '23 at 08:54

How do I add a newline in a markdown table?

5 Answers5

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