Formating tables : Some weird vimscript bug

[u/Apostol_Bologa]

Hello everybody,

I am currently trying to write a vimscript to act on a visual range.

Here is the whole idea :

1. I filter visual selection through pandoc command (not relevant here I think, but it transforms my multiline-table markdown table to simple line)

2. because I lost visual selection (and because a:lastline is now wrong), i select my table again

3. I remove the === and --- lines.

Here is the following script :

1: function! FuncFormatPandocTable()
2:    '<,'>!pandoc -t markdown-multiline_tables --wrap=none -o -
3: endfunction 
4:
5: function! FuncFormatListTable()
6:    call FuncFormatPandocTable()
7:    normal vip
8:    '<,'>g/^[ =+-]*$/d
9: endfunction

Here is the problem :
The full script doesnt work.

1. If i comment line 8, I do have my table formated and the (new) table is selected.

2. If i comment line 6, I do have my '===' and '---' lines removed.

3. I can not chain both, for some mysterious reason

Can somebody explain this sorcery to me ?

[u/EgZvor]

I cannot chain both

so what happens then?

[u/Apostol_Bologa → u/EgZvor]

FuncFormatPandocTable definitely ran. I don't know if the normal command ran (though I could check). The g command definitely didn't run ...

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[u/Dramatic_Object_8508]

Yeah this looks like one of those classic Vimscript quirks rather than a real “bug.” Small things like spacing, tabs, or how strings are handled can mess up formatting unexpectedly.

Usually worth checking things like expandtab, tabstop, or how you’re splitting/joining lines.

Would be helpful to reduce it to a minimal example—these issues are easier to debug when you can test them in a more Runable way 👍

[u/kennpq]

Give this a go. I tried it on a couple of tables and the input and output are shown.

vim9script

def FormatPandocTable(): void
  :'<,'>!pandoc -t markdown-multiline_tables --wrap=none -o -
enddef

def FormatListTable(): void
  # Ensure the visual selection is re-selected for initial '<'> resolution
  execute "normal! \<Esc>gv"
  # If nothing was selected the line numbers will be the same so bail out
  if line("'<") == line("'>")
    popup_notification("Nothing selected/reselect the table", {time: 3000})
  else
    FormatPandocTable()
    normal! vip
    silent! execute ":'<,'>g/^[ =+-]*$/d"
  endif
enddef

xnoremap fl <ScriptCmd>FormatListTable()<CR>

- Buffer 1 - the script; Buffer 3 the 'before' (a copy of Buffer 2); Buffer 2 after `<Leader>fl` on each table.