A new feature is provided to address this in the next release (currently available in SVN). By specifying "-" or "" (empty string) as an output format in queries, outputs are returned in plain, unformatted form. Example query:

{{#ask: [[Category:Country]]

}}

will return a table of four columns, all of which have an explicit output format (the content after #). The first column are simply the countries, the second is their area converted to "km²" as usual. The third one is their population as a plain string (caveat: when numbers get large, scientific notation is used; fixes for preventing this are welcome). The fourth column is their capital, again as a plain (unlinked) string. Empty format strings and "-" mean the same. Spaces are ignored.

For switching off all links (even in the first column), one can set the parameter "link=none" or replace the first standard column with a new version by adding the parameter "mainlabel=-" (hide first column) and the new printout "?#" (display main column, with empty formatting string).