If header cell is merged, generate grid table without headers

		while len(row) < maxCols:

			row.append('')

	# Check if header row has vertical merges with content rows

	# If the first data row (row 2, index 2) contains rowspan markers,

	# it means header cells are merged vertically with content cells

	hasHeaderVerticalMerge = False

	if len(rows) > 2:

		# Check if any cell in the first data row (index 2) is a rowspan marker

		# This indicates that a header cell from row 0 spans down

		hasHeaderVerticalMerge = any(

			cell.strip() == rowspanMarker 

			for cell in rows[2] 

			if cell is not None

		)

	# Generate grid table

	result = []

	# Helper function to detect separator rows (markdown table separator with dashes)

	def isSeparatorRow(row: list[str]) -> bool:

		"""Check if a row is a markdown table separator row (all dashes)."""

		return all(cell.strip() == '-' or cell.strip() == '' for cell in row)

	# Top border

	result.append('+' + '+'.join('-' * (w + 2) for w in colWidths) + '+')

	# If header has vertical merges, treat all rows as content rows

	# Otherwise, create a header row and separator

	if hasHeaderVerticalMerge:

		# No header row - all rows are content rows

		# Start processing from row 0 (the original header row), but skip row 1 (separator row)

		dataRowsStart = 0

	else:

		# Header row

		result.append('|' + '|'.join(

			f'{rows[0][i]:<{colWidths[i]}}' for i in range(len(rows[0])) if rows[0][i] is not None

		# Header separator

		result.append('+:' + '+:'.join('=' * (w + 1) for w in colWidths) + '+')

		# Data rows start from row 2 (after header and separator)

		dataRowsStart = 2

	# Data rows

	for rowIndex, row in enumerate(rows[2:]):

	for rowIndex, row in enumerate(rows[dataRowsStart:]):

		# Skip separator rows when processing content rows from the start (hasHeaderVerticalMerge case)

		if hasHeaderVerticalMerge and isSeparatorRow(row):

			continue

		# The following code detects if cells in the next row have rowspan marker(s)

		# If so, it will merge the cells with the current one and remove the rowspan marker

		# from that cell

		nextRowCellsMerged:list[bool] = []

		if rowIndex < len(rows)-3:

			for cellIndex, cell in enumerate(rows[rowIndex+3]):

				if cell.strip() == rowspanMarker:

		# Calculate the actual index in the rows array

		currentRowIdx = dataRowsStart + rowIndex

		nextRowIdx = currentRowIdx + 1

		if nextRowIdx < len(rows):

			for cellIndex, cell in enumerate(rows[nextRowIdx]):

				if cellIndex < len(row) and cell.strip() == rowspanMarker:

					nextRowCellsMerged.append(True)

					rows[rowIndex+3][cellIndex] = cell.replace(rowspanMarker, ' '*len(rowspanMarker))

					rows[nextRowIdx][cellIndex] = cell.replace(rowspanMarker, ' '*len(rowspanMarker))

				else:	

					nextRowCellsMerged.append(False)

			# nextRowCellsMerged = [ cell.strip() == rowspanMarker for cell in rows[rowIndex+3] ]

			# Ensure we have the right number of entries (match number of columns)

			while len(nextRowCellsMerged) < len(colWidths):

				nextRowCellsMerged.append(False)

		else:

			nextRowCellsMerged = [ False for _ in rows[rowIndex+2] ]

			nextRowCellsMerged = [ False for _ in colWidths ]

		result.append('|' + '|'.join(

			f'{row[i]:<{colWidths[i]}}'