Perhaps your experiments reveal that this is not an approach well-matched to RTF ?
The path I personally take to tabulation in RTF involves:
(Where the conversion can be performed by textutil in the shell or by calling ObjC methods from an osascript language – JS or AppleScript)
Rough sketch (you could refine the intermediate HTML markup for fonts, alignments etc), and you might prefer textutil for the HTML -> RTF conversion, but here in a JavaScript for Automation version:
(() => {
"use strict";
// Rob Trew @2023
// Draft 00.01
ObjC.import("AppKit");
const columnDelimiter = ":";
// Column delimited lines copied as RTF table
// (via HTML markup)
const main = () => {
const kmv = kmValue(kmInstance());
return either(
alert("Delimited rows copied as RTF table")
)(
copyTypedString(true)("public.rtf")
)(
rtfFromHTML(
htmlTable(
lines(
kmv("local_ColonDelimitedLines")
)
.map(x => x.split(columnDelimiter))
)
)
);
};
// ---------------- KEYBOARD MAESTRO -----------------
// kmInstance :: () -> IO String
const kmInstance = () =>
ObjC.unwrap(
$.NSProcessInfo.processInfo.environment
.objectForKey("KMINSTANCE")
) || "";
// kmValue :: KM Instance -> String -> IO String
const kmValue = instance =>
k => Application("Keyboard Maestro Engine")
.getvariable(k, {instance});
// ----------------------- JXA -----------------------
// alert :: String => String -> IO String
const alert = title =>
s => {
const sa = Object.assign(
Application("System Events"), {
includeStandardAdditions: true
});
return (
sa.activate(),
sa.displayDialog(s, {
withTitle: title,
buttons: ["OK"],
defaultButton: "OK"
}),
s
);
};
// copyTypedString :: Bool -> String -> String -> IO ()
const copyTypedString = blnClear =>
// public.html, public.rtf, public.utf8-plain-text
pbType => s => {
const pb = $.NSPasteboard.generalPasteboard;
return (
blnClear && pb.clearContents,
pb.setStringForType(
$(s),
$(pbType)
)
);
};
// ---------------------- HTML -----------------------
// htmlTable :: [[String]] -> HTML String
const htmlTable = rows => {
const
thead = "<thead></thead>",
htmlrows = rows.map(
row => `<tr>${row.map(x => `<td>${x}<td>`)
.join("")}</tr>`
)
.join("\n"),
tbody = `<tbody>\n${htmlrows}\n</tbody>`;
return `<table>\n${thead}\n${tbody}\n</table>`;
};
// rtfFromHTML :: String -> Either String String
const rtfFromHTML = strHTML => {
const
as = $.NSAttributedString.alloc
.initWithHTMLDocumentAttributes($(strHTML)
.dataUsingEncoding($.NSUTF8StringEncoding),
0
);
return bindLR(
"function" !== typeof as
.dataFromRangeDocumentAttributesError ? (
Left("String could not be parsed as HTML")
) : Right(as)
)(
// Function bound if Right value obtained above:
htmlAS => {
const
error = $(),
rtfData = htmlAS
.dataFromRangeDocumentAttributesError({
"location": 0,
"length": htmlAS.length
}, {
DocumentType: "NSRTF"
},
error
);
return Boolean(
ObjC.unwrap(rtfData) && !error.code
) ? Right(
ObjC.unwrap($.NSString.alloc
.initWithDataEncoding(
rtfData,
$.NSUTF8StringEncoding
))
) : Left(ObjC.unwrap(
error.localizedDescription
));
}
);
};
// --------------------- GENERIC ---------------------
// Left :: a -> Either a b
const Left = x => ({
type: "Either",
Left: x
});
// Right :: b -> Either a b
const Right = x => ({
type: "Either",
Right: x
});
// bindLR (>>=) :: Either a ->
// (a -> Either b) -> Either b
const bindLR = m =>
mf => m.Left ? (
m
) : mf(m.Right);
// either :: (a -> c) -> (b -> c) -> Either a b -> c
const either = fl =>
// Application of the function fl to the
// contents of any Left value in e, or
// the application of fr to its Right value.
fr => e => e.Left ? (
fl(e.Left)
) : fr(e.Right);
// lines :: String -> [String]
const lines = s =>
// A list of strings derived from a single string
// which is delimited by \n or by \r\n or \r.
0 < s.length
? s.split(/\r\n|\n|\r/u)
: [];
return main();
})();
RTF table from delimited lines.kmmacros (8.4 KB)
From which, pasting into TextEdit, I am getting this kind of thing:
and pasting here in the forum:
| Mamma | just killed a man | that's terrible! | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Put a gun against | his head | why?! | |||
| Pulled | my trigger | makes sense I suppose... | |||
| Now | he's dead | hello officer, I'd like to report a murder |
You angel. I'm going to dive into this!
One question... Can this be written to a file in the background? That was the stumbling block with the other method.
Does the JS rely on any dependencies? I just tried it and nothing is pasted. 
It should just copy to clipboard if that's what you mean.
No dependencies, but I would try the JS code on its own,
(i.e. build your own macro) with a variable name of your own at the point where I have written:
kmv("ColonDelimitedLines")
whereas I notice that the variable in the macro is local_ColonDelimitedLines
mea culpa
I'll correct the macro and source listing above in a minute.
Done.
Working here with macOS 13.5.2
The RTF source should be writable to an .rtf file yes. I'll sketch an approach later.
Here's a copy of the source which writes to a local file as well as copying to a public.rtf pasteboard item (again, adjust line 30 to match a KM variable name of your own) e.g.
kmv("ColonDelimitedLines")
(() => {
"use strict";
// Rob Trew @2023
// Draft 00.02
ObjC.import("AppKit");
const columnDelimiter = ":";
// Column delimited lines copied as RTF table
// (via HTML markup)
// Also written to local file in this copy.
const main = () => {
const kmv = kmValue(kmInstance());
return either(
alert("Delimited rows copied as RTF table")
)(
rtf => (
copyTypedString(true)("public.rtf")(rtf),
writeFile("~/Desktop/tabular.rtf")(rtf)
)
)(
rtfFromHTML(
htmlTable(
lines(
kmv("ColonDelimitedLines")
)
.map(x => x.split(columnDelimiter))
)
)
);
};
// ---------------- KEYBOARD MAESTRO -----------------
// kmInstance :: () -> IO String
const kmInstance = () =>
ObjC.unwrap(
$.NSProcessInfo.processInfo.environment
.objectForKey("KMINSTANCE")
) || "";
// kmValue :: KM Instance -> String -> IO String
const kmValue = instance =>
k => Application("Keyboard Maestro Engine")
.getvariable(k, {instance});
// ----------------------- JXA -----------------------
// alert :: String => String -> IO String
const alert = title =>
s => {
const sa = Object.assign(
Application("System Events"), {
includeStandardAdditions: true
});
return (
sa.activate(),
sa.displayDialog(s, {
withTitle: title,
buttons: ["OK"],
defaultButton: "OK"
}),
s
);
};
// copyTypedString :: Bool -> String -> String -> IO ()
const copyTypedString = blnClear =>
// public.html, public.rtf, public.utf8-plain-text
pbType => s => {
const pb = $.NSPasteboard.generalPasteboard;
return (
blnClear && pb.clearContents,
pb.setStringForType(
$(s),
$(pbType)
)
);
};
// writeFile :: FilePath -> String -> IO ()
const writeFile = fp => s =>
$.NSString.alloc.initWithUTF8String(s)
.writeToFileAtomicallyEncodingError(
$(fp)
.stringByStandardizingPath, false,
$.NSUTF8StringEncoding, null
);
// ---------------------- HTML -----------------------
// htmlTable :: [[String]] -> HTML String
const htmlTable = rows => {
const
thead = "<thead></thead>",
htmlrows = rows.map(
row => `<tr>${row.map(x => `<td>${x}<td>`)
.join("")}</tr>`
)
.join("\n"),
tbody = `<tbody>\n${htmlrows}\n</tbody>`;
return `<table>\n${thead}\n${tbody}\n</table>`;
};
// rtfFromHTML :: String -> Either String String
const rtfFromHTML = strHTML => {
const
as = $.NSAttributedString.alloc
.initWithHTMLDocumentAttributes($(strHTML)
.dataUsingEncoding($.NSUTF8StringEncoding),
0
);
return bindLR(
"function" !== typeof as
.dataFromRangeDocumentAttributesError ? (
Left("String could not be parsed as HTML")
) : Right(as)
)(
// Function bound if Right value obtained above:
htmlAS => {
const
error = $(),
rtfData = htmlAS
.dataFromRangeDocumentAttributesError({
"location": 0,
"length": htmlAS.length
}, {
DocumentType: "NSRTF"
},
error
);
return Boolean(
ObjC.unwrap(rtfData) && !error.code
) ? Right(
ObjC.unwrap($.NSString.alloc
.initWithDataEncoding(
rtfData,
$.NSUTF8StringEncoding
))
) : Left(ObjC.unwrap(
error.localizedDescription
));
}
);
};
// --------------------- GENERIC ---------------------
// Left :: a -> Either a b
const Left = x => ({
type: "Either",
Left: x
});
// Right :: b -> Either a b
const Right = x => ({
type: "Either",
Right: x
});
// bindLR (>>=) :: Either a ->
// (a -> Either b) -> Either b
const bindLR = m =>
mf => m.Left ? (
m
) : mf(m.Right);
// either :: (a -> c) -> (b -> c) -> Either a b -> c
const either = fl =>
// Application of the function fl to the
// contents of any Left value in e, or
// the application of fr to its Right value.
fr => e => e.Left ? (
fl(e.Left)
) : fr(e.Right);
// lines :: String -> [String]
const lines = s =>
// A list of strings derived from a single string
// which is delimited by \n or by \r\n or \r.
0 < s.length
? s.split(/\r\n|\n|\r/u)
: [];
return main();
})();
It works! Brilliant!! 
Although I may have missed it, can someone please post / share the final macro>
Thank you.
The final JavaScript was shared, in post #25. You should be able to copy/paste that into the JavaScript block in the full macro in post #21, replacing what's there.
-rob.
@griffman got it!
Will give it a try!!
Apologies (as the non-programmer here), but I downloaded the macro from Post 21, replaced the Java Script with the Java Script on post 25 and the only the was "true".
Please let me know I need to change?
Thank you.
It was written in 2023 before the (default) Modern Syntax option was introduced (and when I get back from the bush to a macOS machine next week I can update it) but in the meanwhile the simplest fix is probably to uncheck the Modern Syntax option (see the link below for details).
Appreciate both teh quick response and the future rewrite of teh script.
I already had "Modern Syntax" unchecked so still a 'no go" .
Look forward to your return and enjoy the bush.
First a quick check of:
true return value.You refer to posts #21 and #25, but that doesn't quite seem to match
https://forum.keyboardmaestro.com/t/tab-aligned-text/33131/21
(no script)
or
https://forum.keyboardmaestro.com/t/tab-aligned-text/33131/25
(no code)
Are you copying material and binding a Keyboard Maestro variable name to it ?
Yes, I am.
And you are using the code in #26
( Tab-Aligned Text - #26 by ComplexPoint )
which writes to a file ?
(when you report a result of just true, is that in a file ?)
Could you post here:
I am just walking into a meeting but will do later today / tonight (as soon as I can).
Thanks for looking at this.
As requested:
RTF table from delimited lines_As Fed File.kmmacros (9.6 KB)
If you need anything else please let me know.
Thanks.
That, I think, is because of a slight inconsistency in variable names:
kmv("ColonDelimitedLines") in the source text (no local_ prefix)local_ColonDelimitedLines (with prefix) is the name to which you are binding your data.a display text window
The source text only aims for file output – it doesn't put rich text in a display window.
(The true you are seeing is just a report that writefile has worked)
So adjusting the source line to:
kmv("local_ColonDelimitedLines")
and changing the display text action to show the (public.rtf) clipboard contents:
RTF table from delimited lines_As Fed File II.kmmacros (9,5 Ko)
Appreciated.
I note that the name I assigned is identical to the one that appeared in the Set Variable action that was i) in the original macro and ii) I disabled to feed it a file.
I will test late tonight when I am back from a meeting. Thank you!
