[docutils:bugs] #504 errors for malformed tables do not indicate what the error is

Thank you for the report.

Note, that Docutils does report the line in the table for "simple" tables:
~~~
========================   =================
 Standard Code             Message(s)       
========================   =================
 M1, indicator undefined  Illegal reference
 M2, Invalid combination   None             
========================   =================
~~~
Compiling with `docutils` reports
~~~
/tmp/foo.rst:4: (ERROR/3) Malformed table.
Text in column margin in table line 4.
...
~~~


---

**[bugs:#504] errors for malformed tables do not indicate what the error is**

**Status:** open
**Created:** Thu Jun 05, 2025 09:04 PM UTC by Jynn Nelson
**Last Updated:** Thu Jun 05, 2025 09:04 PM UTC
**Owner:** nobody
**Attachments:**

- [table.rst](https://sourceforge.net/p/docutils/bugs/504/attachment/table.rst) (1.1 kB; application/octet-stream)


The error messages for malformed tables are quite long and do not indicate where the error occurred. I expect docutils to point at a single line of code, and say why it was malformed. Instead it points at the whole table and just says "malformed table".

~~~
$ grep PRETTY /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS"
$ python -V
Python 3.10.12
$ docutils -V
docutils (Docutils 0.21.2, Python 3.10.12, on linux)
$ docutils --traceback table.rst >/dev/null
table.rst:5: (ERROR/3) Malformed table.

+-------------------------+-------------------+
| Standard Code           | Message(s)       |
+=========================+===================+
| M1, indicator undefined | Illegal reference |
+-------------------------+-------------------+
| M1, indicator undefined | Illegal reference |
+-------------------------+-------------------+
| M1, indicator undefined | Illegal reference |
+-------------------------+-------------------+
| M1, indicator undefined | Illegal reference |
+-------------------------+-------------------+
| M1, indicator undefined | Illegal reference |
+-------------------------+-------------------+
| M1, indicator undefined | Illegal reference |
+-------------------------+-------------------+
| M1, indicator undefined | Illegal reference |
+-------------------------+-------------------+
| M1, indicator undefined | Illegal reference |
+-------------------------+-------------------+
| M2, Invalid combination | None              |
+-------------------------+-------------------+
~~~

Note that docutils *does*  have the information to report this bug, because I can see it in a debugger. It simply doesn't include that info in the error.

~~~
$ python -m pdb $(which docutils) --traceback table.rst
> /home/jyn/.local/bin/docutils(3)<module>()
-> import re
(Pdb) break docutils/parsers/rst/states.py:1787
Breakpoint 1 at /home/jyn/.local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/docutils/parsers/rst/states.py:1787
(Pdb) c
> /home/jyn/.local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/docutils/parsers/rst/states.py(1787)malformed_table()
-> message = 'Malformed table.'
(Pdb) up
> /home/jyn/.local/lib/python3.10/site-packages/docutils/parsers/rst/states.py(1737)isolate_grid_table()
-> messages.extend(self.malformed_table(block))
(Pdb) list
1732 	            else:
1733 	                messages.extend(self.malformed_table(block))
1734 	                return [], messages, blank_finish
1735 	        for i in range(len(block)):     # check right edge
1736 	            if len(block[i]) != width or block[i][-1] not in '+|':
1737 ->	                messages.extend(self.malformed_table(block))
1738 	                return [], messages, blank_finish
1739 	        return block, messages, blank_finish
1740 	
1741 	    def isolate_simple_table(self):
1742 	        start = self.state_machine.line_offset
(Pdb) p block[i]
'| Standard Code           | Message(s)       |'
(Pdb) p width
47
(Pdb) p len(block[i])
46
~~~


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