#Tables

#A complete example

\begin{table}[htbp]
  \centering
  \caption{Results on the test set.}\label{tab:main}
  \resizebox{\linewidth}{!}{%
  \begin{tabular}{l|cc}
    \toprule
    \multirow{2}{*}{Method} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Score} \\
    \cmidrule(lr){2-3}
     & A & B \\
    \midrule
    Ours     & \textbf{1.0} & \underline{0.9} \\
    \rowcolor{yellow!20}
    Baseline & 0.5 & \cellcolor{red!10} 0.4 \\
    \bottomrule
  \end{tabular}}
\end{table}

The table float provides the number and the caption, tabular provides the grid, and \resizebox shrinks it when it is too wide. Each part is described below.

#Table environments

tabular, tabular*, tabularx, tabulary and longtable are all rendered as an HTML <table>. The width argument of tabular*, tabularx and tabulary and the position argument ([t], [b]) are read and dropped: the table is as wide as its content.

A tabular can appear on its own, in a table float, inside a paragraph, or inside another table's cell.

#Column specification

#Rows and cells

• \\ ends a row, and so does \tabularnewline. \\[4pt] works, and the space is dropped.
• & separates cells, but not inside braces or a nested environment.
• The last row doesn't need a trailing \\.
• A cell can contain any inline content: formatting, maths, links, \cite, even a nested tabular.

#Rules

#Header rows

The rows above the first \midrule become the header: they are put in a <thead> and their cells are <th> (bold by default). When there is no \midrule but the table opens with a rule and has a \hline or \midrule after the first row, that first row is the header. Otherwise there is no header row.

#Spanning cells

\multicolumn{2}{c|}{Two columns, centred, with a rule on the right}
\multirow{3}{*}{Three rows}
\multirow{2}{*}{\multicolumn{2}{c}{…}}   % not supported: put \multicolumn outside
\multicolumn{2}{c}{\multirow{2}{*}{…}}   % works

• \multicolumn{n}{spec}{text} spans n columns. Its own spec sets the alignment and the vertical rules for that cell.
• \multirow{n}{width}{text} spans n rows. The optional [vpos] is accepted. Leave the corresponding cells in the next n − 1 rows empty, as in LaTeX; they are skipped.

#Colours

Both accept an optional model, e.g. \rowcolor[HTML]{EEF3FF}, and the colours described in Colour. In dark mode, the text on these backgrounds turns dark so that it stays readable.

#Captions and numbering

A table is numbered when it has a \caption: \begin{table}…\caption{…}…\end{table} gives "Table 1: …". Tables have their own counter, separate from figures and algorithms. The caption appears where you wrote it, above or below the tabular. \caption*{…} and the short form \caption[short]{…} are accepted, and both are numbered.

longtable may carry its own \caption, which numbers it as a table. The \endhead, \endfirsthead, \endfoot and \endlastfoot markers are dropped, because a web page doesn't break tables across pages.

table* is the same as table, except that in a two-column layout it spans both columns.

#Wide tables

A table is only as wide as its content. When that is wider than the page:

• By default the table scrolls sideways inside its own box (.latex-table-wrap), and the page doesn't.
• Inside \resizebox{\linewidth}{!}{…} (or \resizebox* or \adjustbox{…}{…}, or the adjustbox environment), it is scaled down to fit the width, to 55% at the smallest. Below that it scrolls. The fitting is redone whenever the width changes.
• \scalebox{…}{…} and \rotatebox{…}{…} are dropped, leaving their content as it is.

The same fitting works for anything inside \resizebox, not only tables.

#What doesn't work

• Column widths from p{3cm} or X, and \arraystretch, \tabcolsep: the layout is left to the browser.
• \multirow wrapped around \multicolumn (put \multicolumn outside instead).
• \hhline and \Xhline degrade to their argument text. (\makecell{a\\b} happens to work: it degrades to its text, and the \\ inside it is a line break.)
• Cell counts that don't match the column spec: HTML tables don't mind, but it is usually a mistake, so lint warns about it.

Previous: Maths · Contents · Next: Figures and images