Chart syntax

The chart syntax is how a chart is written as text: one row per line, cells split by a comma, semicolon, pipe or tab, and an optional first line that names the type. It is what you type into the Quick Input, and its format id is chart-syntax.

Pro ExtensionAlphaPilot program

bar
Month | Online | Retail
Jan   | 42     | 30
Feb   | 48     | 28

The type line

A first line that holds only a chart type, bar, pie or a type registered with chartTypes, names the type, as the header of Mermaid source does. Case and the space around it do not matter.
Without it, the chart takes the type it was given, or chart.defaultType.
It wins over a type given separately, so the text alone says what the chart becomes.
It stays in the text. editChartAsText writes it back as the first line, and setDiagramInputType rewrites it.

How the rows are read

Rule	How it reads
Delimiters	Comma, semicolon, pipe and tab, set with the `chart.delimiters` option
Header	The first row is the header when it holds no number outside the first column
`{H}`	In front of a cell, marks it as a header cell explicitly
Labels	The first column holds the labels
`{L}`	In front of a cell, marks it as a label explicitly
Empty cell	A missing value
Not a number	A cell that is not a number is kept as text
Quotes	A cell in double quotes may contain the delimiter
Lists	A leading bullet or number (`•`, `-`, `*`, `1.`) is ignored, so a pasted list reads as rows
Single column	Lines without any delimiter are one series of values, labeled 1, 2, 3 and so on

Which delimiter splits

The first line that contains an allowed delimiter decides it for the whole block.
On a line with several, a tab, a pipe or a semicolon wins over a comma.
So Jan ; 1,5 splits at the semicolon and reads 1,5 as a number.

Numbers

With decimalSeparator: 'auto', 1.5 is read as 1.5.
With 'auto', 1,5 is read as 1.5 too, when the delimiter is not a comma.
Set decimalSeparator to '.' or ',' to fix the decimal separator.
Thousands separators are not read.

Errors

A quote that is opened and never closed is an error on that line.
An error names the line, for example Line 3: A quote is opened and never closed.

In code

The same text works without the box, through insertChartFrom, updateChartFrom and the tools for a model:

editor.commands.insertChartFrom({ format: 'chart-syntax', content: 'bar\nJan | 42\nFeb | 48' })

editor.storage.diagrams.read({ format: 'chart-syntax' }) writes a chart's data in the chart syntax, with the delimiter it was typed with.

Delimiter	Written as
Pipe	`\|`
Tab	A bare tab
Any other	The delimiter, then a space

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