[Tex/LaTex] How to automatically line-break a wide table

line-breakingtables

If I have a very wide table, how do I let LaTeX line-break it automatically so it won't fall off the page?

I expect it will be split into parts which will be shown on top of each other.

My table is

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}
    \begin{tabular}{*{26}{l}}
        a&b&c&d&e&f&g&h&i&j&k&l&m&n&o&p&q&r&s&t&u&v&w&x&y&z\\ \hline
        z&y&x&w&v&u&t&s&r&q&p&o&n&m&l&k&j&i&h&g&f&e&d&c&b&a \\
        one&two&three&four&five&six&seven&eight&nine&ten&eleven&twelve&
        thirteen&fourteen&fifteen&sixteen&seventeen&eighteen&nineteen&twenty&twenty-one&twenty-two&twenty-three&twenty-four&twenty-five&twenty-six
    \end{tabular}
\end{document}

Relevant questions

How can I get a very wide table to wrap all three rows within the margins? David's answer comes close, but \hline does not work. Werner's answer requires quite some manual fiddling.

Best Answer

This is essentially an implementation of Mico's comment

\documentclass{article}

\def\zz#1#2#3{\begin{tabular}[t]{l}#1\\\hline#2\\#3\end{tabular}\linebreak[0]\ignorespaces}
\begin{document}

\begin{center}\setlength\lineskip{10pt}
 \zz{a}{z}{one}
\zz{b}{y}{two}
\zz{c}{x}{three}
\zz{d}{w}{four}
\zz{e}{v}{five}
\zz{f}{u}{six}
\zz{g}{t}{seven}
\zz{h}{s}{eight}
\zz{i}{r}{nine}
\zz{j}{q}{ten}
\zz{k}{p}{eleven}
\zz{l}{o}{twelve}
\zz{m}{n}{thirteen}
\zz{n}{m}{fourteen}
\zz{o}{l}{fifteen}
\zz{p}{k}{sixteen}
\zz{q}{j}{seventeen}
\zz{r}{i}{eighteen}
\zz{s}{h}{nineteen}%:-)
\zz{t}{g}{twenty}
\zz{u}{f}{twenty-one}
\zz{v}{e}{twenty-two}
\zz{w}{d}{twenty-three}
\zz{x}{c}{twenty-four}
\zz{y}{b}{twenty-five}
\zz{z}{a}{twenty-six}
\end{center}
\end{document}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] How to add a forced line break inside a table cell

Strangely, no answer (unless I've misread them) mentions a package that is dedicated to this precise question: makecell, which allows for common formatting of certain cells, thanks to its \thead and \makecell commands, and for line breaks inside these cells. The horizontal and vertical alignments can chosen independently from those of the table they're included in. The default is cc, but you can change it globally in the preamble with

\renewcommand{\cellalign}{vh}
\renewcommand{\theadalign}{vh}

where v is one of t,c,b and h one of l,c,r. Alternatively, for a single cell, you can use the \makecell or \thead commands with the optional argument [vh].

So here is a demo:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{fourier} 
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{makecell}

\renewcommand\theadalign{bc}
\renewcommand\theadfont{\bfseries}
\renewcommand\theadgape{\Gape[4pt]}
\renewcommand\cellgape{\Gape[4pt]}

\begin{document}

  \begin{center}
    \begin{tabular}{ | c | c | c |}
      \hline
      \thead{A Head} & \thead{A Second \\ Head} & \thead{A Third \\ Head} \\
      \hline
      Some text &  \makecell{Some really \\ longer text}  & Text text text  \\
      \hline
    \end{tabular}
  \end{center}

\end{document}

Compiled MWE

[Tex/LaTex] Line break in the table item

LaTeX needs to know where it should break the line, so you have to specify the width of the cell. You could use p columns, such as:

\begin{tabular}{p{3cm}...}

Similar to a parbox of 3 cm width, the text is automatically wrapped and left aligned. Even more, it's fully justified.

Here's an example:

\begin{tabular}{|l|c|r|p{1.7cm}|}
  \hline
left & centered & right & a fully justified paragraph cell\\
\hline
  l & c & r & p\\
  \hline
\end{tabular}

enter image description here

Note: those separation lines are just for showing the cell dimensions, I don't recommend to use such lines in tables, especially not the vertical ones.

You can see this and further examples of tables and explanation here: Creating tables with LaTeX.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] How to add a forced line break inside a table cell

[Tex/LaTex] Line break in the table item

Related Question