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Tables

Tables are very similar to arrays in mathematics, but tables often contain words and have lines separating rows and columns. LATEX has a tabular environment that is almost identical to the array environment. As with arrays, the command that begins the environment has an extra parameter that specifies the format of the columns. This format uses l, r, and c to for left-, right- and center-justified columns. It can also include | characters to indicate where vertical lines are to be drawn in the table. For example, \begin{tabular}{|r||cc|} Will produce a table with three columns. The entries in the first column are right-justified; the other two columns are center-justified. There is a vertical line on each side of the table, a double vertical line between the first and second column, and no line between the second column and the third.

In the data for the table, the end of a row is marked with \\. Items on a row are separated with &. You can also put the command \hline before the first row, after the last row, or between rows to indicate places where a horizontal line is supposed to be drawn across the table. If you want to draw a horizontal line just across columns 2 through 4, use \cline{2-4}.

Sometimes, you would like to have one item span several columns. You can do this by using a \multicolumn command in your table data. This command takes the form \multicolumn{ct}{fmt}{item} where ct is a number that says how many columns should be covered; fmt contains exactly one r, l, or c to say how the item should be justified (and can also contain one or more | characters to draw vertical lines); and item is the actual text of the item.

The standard look of tables is a bit cramped vertically for my taste. Adding the command \renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.2} to the document preamble will stretch arrays and tables vertically by a factor of 1.2, giving them a less cramped appearance.

Note: To center a table on the page, put it in a center environment, that is, between \begin{center} and \end{center}.

Next: Graphics Up: Fancy Stuff Previous: Lists
David Eck 2003-10-21