markdownTableToQuery UDF - Converts a markdown table string to a ColdFusion query with VARCHAR columns.

markdownTableToQuery.cfm

<cfscript>
/**
 * Converts a markdown table string to a ColdFusion query with VARCHAR columns.
 * James Moberg - 2026-04-17 myCFML.com / SunStarMedia.com
 * https://gist.github.com/JamoCA/4bc3d41106b1da4f8511020985ecd350
 * @markdown The markdown table string to parse.
 * @return A query object with columns derived from the table header.
 */
public query function markdownTableToQuery(required string markdown) hint="Converts a markdown table to a CF query with VARCHAR columns" {
	// Local closure: parses a single markdown row into an array of trimmed cells.
	// Handles escaped pipes (\|) and strips leading/trailing pipes.
	var parseRow = function(required string row) {
		var line = trim(arguments.row);
		// Strip one leading and one trailing pipe if present
		if (left(line, 1) eq "|") {
			line = mid(line, 2, len(line) - 1);
		}
		if (right(line, 1) eq "|") {
			line = left(line, len(line) - 1);
		}
		// Temporarily protect escaped pipes with a safe placeholder token,
		// split on the real pipes, then restore the escaped pipes as literal "|".
		var placeholder = chr(31); // unit separator
		if (find(placeholder, line)) placeholder = chr(28); // file separator
		if (find(placeholder, line)) placeholder = chr(29); // group separator
		line = replace(line, "\|", placeholder, "all");
		// includeEmptyFields=true so empty cells survive; multiCharDelim=false
		var cells = listtoarray(line, "|", true, false);
		var out = [];
		for (var cell in cells) {
			out.append(trim(replace(cell, placeholder, "|", "all")));
		}
		return out;
	};
	var lines = [];
	var rawLines = listtoarray(arguments.markdown, chr(10), false, true);
	// Trim each line and drop blanks
	for (var rawLine in rawLines) {
		var trimmed = trim(replace(rawLine, chr(13), "", "all"));
		if (len(trimmed)) {
			lines.append(trimmed);
		}
	}
	if (arraylen(lines) lt 2) {
		throw(type = "InvalidMarkdownTable", message = "Markdown table must contain at least a header row and a separator row.");
	}
	// Parse header row into column names
	var headerCells = parseRow(lines[ 1 ]);
	if (!arraylen(headerCells)) {
		throw(type = "InvalidMarkdownTable", message = "Header row contains no columns.");
	}
	// Validate separator row (line 2): cells made of dashes, optional leading/trailing colons
	var separatorCells = parseRow(lines[ 2 ]);
	if (arraylen(separatorCells) lt arraylen(headerCells)) {
		throw(type = "InvalidMarkdownTable", message = "Separator row has fewer columns than header.");
	}
	for (var sep in separatorCells) {
		if (!refind("^:?-{3,}:?$", sep)) {
			throw(type = "InvalidMarkdownTable", message = "Invalid separator row: '#sep#'.");
		}
	}
	// Build column type list (all VARCHAR)
	var columnTypes = [];
	for (var i = 1; i lte arraylen(headerCells); i++) {
		columnTypes.append("VARCHAR");
	}
	var result = querynew(arraytolist(headerCells), arraytolist(columnTypes));
	// Populate data rows (everything after the separator)
	for (var i = 3; i lte arraylen(lines); i++) {
		var rowCells = parseRow(lines[ i ]);
		// Normalize cell count to match headers (pad short rows, truncate long ones)
		while (arraylen(rowCells) lt arraylen(headerCells)) {
			rowCells.append("");
		}
		if (arraylen(rowCells) gt arraylen(headerCells)) {
			rowCells = rowCells.slice(1, arraylen(headerCells));
		}
		queryaddrow(result);
		for (var c = 1; c lte arraylen(headerCells); c++) {
			querysetcell(result, headerCells[ c ], rowCells[ c ], result.recordcount);
		}
	}
	return result;
}
</cfscript>

<!---
	<cfsavecontent variable="markdown">
	| Name    | Expression           | Notes          |
	|---------|----------------------|----------------|
	| Alice   | a \| b               | pipe in middle |
	| Bob     | \| starts with pipe  | leading        |
	| Carol   | ends with pipe \|    | trailing       |
	| Dave    | \|                   | only a pipe    |

	</cfsavecontent>

	<cfset q = markdownTableToQuery(markdown)>

	<cfdump var="#q#">
--->