read markdown table into R data frame

markdown.R

# base R version
read.markdown <- function(file, stringsAsFactors = FALSE, strip.white = TRUE, ...){
    if (length(file) > 1) {
        lines <- file
    } else if (grepl('\n', file)) {
        con <- textConnection(file)
        lines <- readLines(con)
        close(con)
    } else {
        lines <- readLines(file)
    }
    lines <- lines[!grepl('^[\\:\\s\\+\\-\\=\\_\\|]*$', lines, perl = TRUE)]
    lines <- gsub('(^\\s*?\\|)|(\\|\\s*?$)', '', lines)
    read.delim(text = paste(lines, collapse = '\n'), sep = '|', 
               stringsAsFactors = stringsAsFactors, strip.white = strip.white, ...)
}

# readr version
read_markdown <- function(file, trim_ws = TRUE, ...){
    if (length(file) > 1) {
        lines <- file
    } else {
        lines <- readr::read_lines(file)
    }
    lines <- lines[!grepl('^[\\:\\s\\+\\-\\=\\_\\|]*$', lines, perl = TRUE)]
    lines <- gsub('(^\\s*?\\|)|(\\|\\s*?$)', '', lines)
    readr::read_delim(paste(lines, collapse = '\n'), delim = '|', 
                      trim_ws = trim_ws, ...)
}