[Tex/LaTex] Highlight table cells using thick, colored border

colortblhighlightingrulestables

I'd like to highlight certain cells of my table. In particular, I'd like to set the border of these sells colored and thick. These cells should also have a background color.

Here's a minimal example of my table:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array,colortbl,xcolor}

\begin{document} 

\begin{tabular}{p{1.4cm}p{2.55cm}p{2.55cm}p{2.55cm}p{2.55cm}}
\hline
\multicolumn{1}{c}{} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{\textbf{Football}} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{\textbf{Basketball}} \\\hline
\multicolumn{1}{c}{} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{\textbf{1. League}} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{\textbf{2. League}} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{\textbf{1. League}} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{\textbf{2. League}} \\ \hline
\textbf{Average} & 10000000000 & \cellcolor{lightgray}20000000000 & 30000000000 & 40000000000\\ \hline
\textbf{Total} & 50000000000 & 60000000000 & 70000000000 & \cellcolor{lightgray}80000000000\\ \hline

\end{tabular}
\end{document}

I tried to set the border of specific cells using a combination of multicolumn and hhline but failed miserably 🙁 (One of the problems was that the cell background partially covers the border).

I also tried tikz but failed to paint exactly on the cell's border, especially when a linebreak occurs.

Here's how it should look optimally:

enter image description here

Can someone please help me to get this working?

Best Answer

enter image description here

I have prevented the cell from becoming wider due to the border, but allowed it to grow vertically. If that isn't desired a bit more negative spacing is needed.

rather than use colortbl it is easier to grab the cell contents in a box (since you are doing that anyway for p columns) and using \fcolorbox.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array,colortbl,xcolor}

\begin{document} 

\makeatletter
\def\highlight#1{%
\fboxrule2pt %
\hsize=\dimexpr\hsize-2\fboxrule-2\fboxsep\relax
#1%
\@endpbox\unskip\setbox0\lastbox\bgroup
\fboxrule2pt %
\fcolorbox{red}{lightgray}{\box0}\hfill}

\begin{tabular}{p{1.4cm}p{2.55cm}p{2.55cm}p{2.55cm}p{2.55cm}}
\hline
\multicolumn{1}{c}{} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{\textbf{Football}} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{\textbf{Basketball}} \\\hline
\multicolumn{1}{c}{} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{\textbf{1. League}} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{\textbf{2. League}} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{\textbf{1. League}} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{\textbf{2. League}} \\ \hline
\textbf{Average} & 10000000000 & \cellcolor{lightgray}20000000000 & 30000000000 & 40000000000\\ \hline
\textbf{Total} & 50000000000 & 60000000000 &
\highlight{70000000000}& \cellcolor{lightgray}80000000000\\ \hline

\end{tabular}
\end{document}

Related Solutions

Tables – How to Highlight Table Cells in LaTeX

Generally I agree with lockstep that circling might not be the best way to highlight text. In addition to his suggestions, you could also try using a light gray background.

Having said that, here is a way to circle text using TikZ:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{fit,shapes.geometric}

\newcounter{nodemarkers}
\newcommand\circletext[1]{%
    \tikz[overlay,remember picture] 
        \node (marker-\arabic{nodemarkers}-a) at (0,1.5ex) {};%
    #1%
    \tikz[overlay,remember picture]
        \node (marker-\arabic{nodemarkers}-b) at (0,0){};%
    \tikz[overlay,remember picture,inner sep=2pt]
        \node[draw,ellipse,fit=(marker-\arabic{nodemarkers}-a.center) (marker-\arabic{nodemarkers}-b.center)] {};%
    \stepcounter{nodemarkers}%
}

\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{*6{c}}\hline
    Col 1 & Col 2 & Col 3 & Col 4 & Col 5 & Col 6 \\\hline
    bla   & bla   & \circletext{bla}   & bla   & bla   & bla \\
    bla   & bla   & bla   & bla   & bla   & bla \\ 
    ble   & ble   & ble   & bla   & \circletext{bla}   & bla \\ 
    bla   & bla   & bla   & bla   & bla   & bla \\ \hline
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

exampl

The \circletext command defines a node to the left and right of the text and then fits an ellipse around them. More fanciful graphics are of course possible, this is a rather basic example (since I do not know what your table looks like). Two LaTeX runs are necessary to have everything show up in the right place.

Edit: Here is an example of how to mark arbitrary blocks. Ellipses don't look good with large blocks, so it is using rounded rectangles instead:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{fit,shapes.misc}

\newcommand\marktopleft[1]{%
    \tikz[overlay,remember picture] 
        \node (marker-#1-a) at (0,1.5ex) {};%
}
\newcommand\markbottomright[1]{%
    \tikz[overlay,remember picture] 
        \node (marker-#1-b) at (0,0) {};%
    \tikz[overlay,remember picture,thick,dashed,inner sep=3pt]
        \node[draw,rounded rectangle,fit=(marker-#1-a.center) (marker-#1-b.center)] {};%
}

\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{*6{c}}\hline
    Col 1 & Col 2 & Col 3 & Col 4 & Col 5 & Col 6 \\\hline
    bla   & bla   & \marktopleft{c1}bla   & bla   & bla   & bla \\
    bla   & bla   & bla   & bla   & bla   & bla \\ 
    ble   & ble   & ble   & bla   & bla\markbottomright{c1}   & bla \\ 
    bla   & bla   & bla   & bla   & bla   & bla \\ 
    bla   & \marktopleft{c2}bla   & bla   & bla   & bla\markbottomright{c2}   & bla \\ \hline
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

example

[Tex/LaTex] Table with partially colored cells

Here's a solution using matrix of nodes from TikZ:

Code

\documentclass[parskip]{scrartcl}
\usepackage[margin=15mm]{geometry}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix}

\begin{document}

\pgfdeclarelayer{background}
\pgfsetlayers{background,main}

\tikzset{limon/.style={fill=lime}}

\begin{tikzpicture}
    \matrix (magic) [matrix of nodes,nodes={minimum width=3cm,minimum height=1cm,draw,very thin},draw,inner sep=0]
    {   8 & 1 & 6 \\
        3 & |[limon]| 5 & |[limon]| 7 \\
        4 & 9 & 2 \\
    };
    \begin{pgfonlayer}{background}
        \fill[lime,draw=black] (magic-2-1.north east) -- (magic-2-1.west) -- (magic-2-1.south east) -- cycle;
    \end{pgfonlayer}

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Output

enter image description here

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Tables – How to Highlight Table Cells in LaTeX

[Tex/LaTex] Table with partially colored cells

Code

Output

Related Question