Formatting tables
Tables FAQ
Tips and tricks for editing tables
Inserting vertical bars
When formatting a table with many columns of numbers, you may need to insert lots of vertical bars | to make column dividers. The following regex will put a | in front of every number.
Bring up the Search-and-Replace popup window.
In the Search box put:
( )([0-9\-\.,%·]+)
and in the Replace box put:
$1|$1$2
Tick the "Regex?" box, and press the Replace All button. There's an Undo button if you don't like what you see.
Beware, this process will also catch any other numbers or spaced punctuation on the page, outside the body of the table!
jEdit
JEdit can be used for building tables. Its ability to select vertical blocks, and to replicate keystrokes, is great. By selecting a single column (CTRL/ALT drag vertically) and typing the column boundary (|) one can instantly create a vertical line of the chosen length. There are many other tricks that make it worth investigating (link)