ASCII Parse

ASCII table parser written for Node.js.

Install

Install using NPM

npm install asciiparse

Use

asciiparse has three visible methods, based on how you store the data

var asciiparse = require('asciiparse');

// Read and parse a file
asciiparse.parseFile(filename, [options], callback);

// Parse buffers or strings
asciiparse.parseBuffer(buffer, [options], callback);
asciiparse.parseString(string, [options], callback);

Options

The options field is optional and can be omitted in favor of the defaults. If options are provided, any missing values will default.

• rowSeparator ('-'): Separator between rows
• colSeparator ('|'): Separator between columns
• junction ('+'): Where rowSeparator and colSeparator meet. Corners of cells and the table.
• multiline (true): Whether body rows are separated by rowSeparator or newline
• header (true): If false, a two-dimensional array is returned. If true, the first row is treated as column names and an array of objects keyed by column is returned
• emptyCells (true): Whether to keep empty cells. If header is true, setting this to false may cause errors.
• multilineSeparator ('\n'): The character or string to insert between lines of a multiline cell when collapsed.
• preHeaderRows (0): How many rows are NOT header data. Values greater than 0 are edge cases I personally needed to deal with.

Examples

Single Line, No Header Row

+-----------+--------------+
| Athens    | Tue 11:14 PM |
| Las Vegas | Tue  1:14 PM |
| London    | Tue  9:14 PM |
+-----------+--------------+

and

+-----------+--------------+
| Athens    | Tue 11:14 PM |
+-----------+--------------+
| Las Vegas | Tue  1:14 PM |
+-----------+--------------+
| London    | Tue  9:14 PM |
+-----------+--------------+

are equivalent in single line mode. When header mode is off, both evaluate to

[ ['Athens', 'Tue 11:14 PM'],
  ['Las Vegas', 'Tue 1:14 PM'],
  ['London', 'Tue 9:14 PM'] ]

Single Line, Header Row

Modifying the example above to include a header row...

+-----------+--------------+
| City      | Time         |
+-----------+--------------+
| Athens    | Tue 11:14 PM |
| Las Vegas | Tue  1:14 PM |
| London    | Tue  9:14 PM |
+-----------+--------------+

evaluates to

[
	{ City: 'Athens', Time: 'Tue 11:14 PM' },
	{ City: 'Las Vegas', Time: 'Tue 1:14 PM' },
	{ City: 'London', Time: 'Tue 9:14 PM' },
]

Multiple Line

In multiline mode, rows MUST be separated by junction and rowSeparator. Otherwise all rows would be combined.

+--------+--------------+
| City   | Time         |
+--------+--------------+
| Athens | Tue 11:14 PM |
+--------+--------------+
| Las    | Tue  1:14 PM |
| Vegas  |              |
+--------+--------------+
| London | Tue  9:14 PM |
+--------+--------------+

Custom separators

*====*============*====================*
; a  ; apple      ; Some longer string ;
; b  ; banana     ; hi                 ;
; c  ; carrot     ; meow               ;
; e  ; elephants  ;                    ;
*====*============*====================*

parses correctly, given the custom options:

{
	rowSeparator: '=',
	colSeparator: ';',
	junction: '*',
	
	multiline: false,
	header: false
}