[Tex/LaTex] How to use supertabular with the tabular code

multicoltabularx

I'm trying to create a list of notation, but I've been unable to use nomencl as I would like so I'm using a table. I'd like the table to split as it goes over to the second column (the working example below doesn't have enough lines to split, but you get the idea). It would be nice if when it split it would also redo the table column titles at the top of the next column as well, is there any way of doing this?

EDIT: I can see that supertabular may be the thing I need, how can I implement that code with it? It seems to not like \columnwidth and \toprule.

\documentclass[11pt, a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage[left=17.5mm,right=17.5mm,top=24.5mm,bottom=33.95mm]{geometry}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{supertabular}
\begin{document}
\begin{multicols*}{2}
\tablehead{\hline
Symbol&Description&Unit \hline}\\
\tabletail{\hline}\\
\begin{supertabular}{l l l}
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\

\end{supertabular}
\end{multicols*}
\end{document}

I've also tried the following to get the table widths right, but then it doesn't use the second column of multicols.

{
    p{\dimexpr.5\columnwidth-2\tabcolsep}
    >{\centering\arraybackslash}p{\dimexpr.3\columnwidth-2\tabcolsep}
    >{\raggedleft\arraybackslash}p{\dimexpr.2\columnwidth-2\tabcolsep}
    }

Best Answer

I suggest you to use xtab instead of supertabular, but the result should be the same:

\documentclass[11pt, a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[textheight=12cm,textwidth=18cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{xtab}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{array}

\makeatletter
\let\mcnewpage\newpage
\newcommand{\changenewpage}{%
  \renewcommand\newpage{%
    \if@firstcolumn
      \hrule width\linewidth height0pt
      \columnbreak
    \else
      \mcnewpage
    \fi
}}
\makeatother


\begin{document}
\begin{multicols*}{2}
\changenewpage
\tablehead{
\toprule
Symbol&Description&Unit\\
\midrule
}
\begin{xtabular}{
    >{\raggedright\arraybackslash}p{\dimexpr.2\columnwidth-2\tabcolsep}
    >{\raggedright\arraybackslash}p{\dimexpr.5\columnwidth-2\tabcolsep}
    >{\raggedright\arraybackslash}p{\dimexpr.3\columnwidth-2\tabcolsep}
    }
%\toprule
%Symbol&Description&Unit\\
%\midrule
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
$X$ &Description & $J\,kg^{-1}K^{-1}$ \\
\end{xtabular}
\end{multicols*}
\end{document}

The dimensions specified for geometry are just to show the example.

The \changenewpage implements the suggestion drawn from multicolumn long table or enumeration

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