Convert a space delimited table on the system clipboard into markdown table, such as when copying tabular results from matlab or a spreadsheet or R command line. Written to use macos shell cmd pbpaste. But should be reworked to use xclip or similar as an option for linux. This script is most enjoyable when combined with a os wide shortcut, such …

pyMakeMarkdownTable.py

#! /usr/bin/env python

#pyMakeMarkdownTable.py 
#Created by James B. Ackman 4/9/2013
'''
A script to format a space or tab delimited table on the clipboard into a markdown formatted table onto the clipboard
'''
#import os, sys, re 
#import urllib2
import os, subprocess, re 
def getClipboardData(): 
	p = subprocess.Popen(['pbpaste'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE) 
	retcode = p.wait() 
	data = p.stdout.read() 
	return data 

def setClipboardData(data): 
	p = subprocess.Popen(['pbcopy'], stdin=subprocess.PIPE) 
	p.stdin.write(data) 
	p.stdin.close() 
	retcode = p.wait() 

s1 = getClipboardData()
s = s1.expandtabs(1)

s = re.sub(' +',' ',s)

sList = s.split('\n')
nSeparators = sList[0].count(' ')

nSeparatorsTotal = s.count(' ')
newStr = s.replace(' ', ' | ', nSeparatorsTotal)

row2 = ' --- |' * nSeparators + ' ---'

newStr2 = newStr.replace('\n', '\n' + row2 + '\n', 1)

#nLine = sList[0].replace(' ', ' | ', nSeparators)
#print str(row2)
setClipboardData(newStr2)