[Tex/LaTex] Breaking Horizontal Rule Running Across Adjacent Columns in a Table

rulestables

Is there any way to force a break in the horizontal rule running across two adjacent cells of a table. To be more precise, here is what I'm looking for:

enter image description here

Notice how I wish the lines to fall short of the left and right borders of the table as well. I would really appreciate it if someone can provide a simple and compact solution.

This is the usual scenario for comparing against:

enter image description here

Here is the simple code for quick access:

\begin{tabular}{ccccc}
\hline
\multirow{2}{*}{C1} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{C2} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{C3} \\ \cline{2-3} \cline{4-5}
                    & C21 & C22              & C31 & C32            \\ \hline
Val1                & Val2 & Val3            & Val4 & Val5 \\ 

\end{tabular}

Best Answer

You could use the booktabs package:

enter image description here

Code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{booktabs}

\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{ccccc}
\hline
\multirow{2}{*}{C1} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{C2} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{C3} \\ 
\cmidrule(lr){2-3} \cmidrule(lr){4-5}
                    & C21 & C22              & C31 & C32            \\ 
\cmidrule(lr){1-1} \cmidrule(lr){2-3} \cmidrule(lr){4-5}
Val1                & Val2 & Val3            & Val4 & Val5 \\ 

\end{tabular}
\end{document}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Horizontal rule with adjustable height behaving like \cline{n-m}

You can define a new command which changes the value of \arrayrulewidth, draws the \cline and then restores \arrayrulewidth to its original value:

\documentclass{book}

\newlength{\Oldarrayrulewidth}
\newcommand{\Cline}[2]{%
  \noalign{\global\setlength{\Oldarrayrulewidth}{\arrayrulewidth}}%
  \noalign{\global\setlength{\arrayrulewidth}{#1}}\cline{#2}%
  \noalign{\global\setlength{\arrayrulewidth}{\Oldarrayrulewidth}}}
\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{ccc}
  a & b & c \\\Cline{2pt}{2-3}
  d & e & f \\\Cline{3pt}{1-2}
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

enter image description here

The first argument of \Cline controls the "thickness" of the rule.

EDIT: The \cmidrule command provided by the booktabs package admits an optional argument controlling the thickness of the rule, so you can say:

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage{booktabs}

\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{ccc}
  a & b & c \\ \cmidrule[2pt]{2-3}
  d & e & f \\ \cmidrule[3pt]{1-2}
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

[Tex/LaTex] Table with different rule widths

Please always post complete documents not just fragments.

You can simplify the horizontal case as you don't need the lookahead, and in the vertical case the padding was wrong, it is easier to use ! which automatically gets the same spacing as |.

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array}

\usepackage{array}
\makeatletter
\newcommand{\thickhline}{%
    \noalign {\hrule height 2pt}%
}

\newcolumntype{'}{!{\vrule width 2pt}}
\makeatother 

\begin{document}
.
.
.
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{'c|c|c|c'}\thickhline
$(x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$\\\thickhline
$(x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ \\\hline
$(x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ \\\hline
$(x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ \\\hline
$(x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ \\\hline
$(x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ \\\hline
$(x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ \\\hline
$(x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ \\\hline
$(x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ \\\hline
$(x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ & $(x\pm x)$ \\\thickhline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

\end{document}

(Someone is going to say you shouldn't use vertical rules and should look at the booktabs package, so I may as well mention that to pre-empt them)

Best Answer

Code:

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Horizontal rule with adjustable height behaving like \cline{n-m}

[Tex/LaTex] Table with different rule widths

Related Question