[Tex/LaTex] Increasing space between columns in a list of acronyms

formattingtables

For my List of Acronyms page, I'd like the explanation of the acronym (i.e. "List Abbreviations Here" in the example below) to be a bit more on the right.

I'm using a thesis template, which obviously has class file (.cls) file attached to it and I don't want to fiddle too much with that although I guess that is how I will effect such a change. I dont want suggestions to install the nomenclature or glossary packages as I'm a bit too nervous to try out the packages, because every time I attempt to install a new package, everything else seems to be adversely affected.

Code from the .cls file:

 \newcommand\listsymbolname{List of Acronyms}
 \usepackage{longtable}
 \newcommand\listofsymbols[2]{
 \btypeout{\listsymbolname}
 \addtotoc{\listsymbolname}
\chapter*{\listsymbolname
  \@mkboth{
      \MakeUppercase\listsymbolname}{\MakeUppercase\listsymbolname}}
\begin{longtable}[l]{#1}#2\end{longtable}\par
\cleardoublepage

Code from .tex file:

\setstretch{1.5}  % Set the line spacing to 1.5, this makes the following tables easier to read
\clearpage  % Start a new page
\lhead{\emph{List of Acronyms}}  % Set the left side page header to "Abbreviations"
\listofsymbols{ll}  % Include a list of Abbreviations (a table of two columns)
{
\textbf{LAH} & \textbf{L}ist \textbf{A}bbreviations \textbf{H}ere \\
}

Best Answer

Try changing the first argument of \listofsymbols in the .tex file to

\listofsymbols{l @{\hspace{1cm}} l}
{
 \textbf{LAH} & \textbf{L}ist \textbf{A}bbreviations \textbf{H}ere \\
}

You can modify the length 1cm to whatever suits your needs.

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] space between columns titles in tabular

I suggest you give the booktabs package a try. The following MWE (Minimum Working Example) shows how one might use its commands \toprule, \bottomrule, and \cmidrule. These commands work pretty much like the LaTeX commands \hline and \cline, except that they provide much better spacing above and below the horizontal lines. In addition, the lines created by \toprule and \bottomrule are heavier (thicker) than those created by \midrule and \cmidrule, further contributing to a polished appearance of the table.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{cc}
\toprule
title1 & title2 \\
\cmidrule(r){1-1} \cmidrule(l){2-2}
a & 1\\
$\vdots$ & $\vdots$\\
z & 26 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

enter image description here

[Tex/LaTex] Reducing space between columns manually

As mentioned in comment, you have declared too many columns in your table. I deleted three of them. If you want to write long text in one column, you may use a p{width} column in order to control it to your needs.

Here is your table how I would recommend to type it:

% arara: pdflatex

\documentclass[12pt]{report}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage{microtype} % for better kerning in narrow columns
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{caption}
\usepackage{siunitx}

\begin{document}    
    \begin{table}
        \centering
        \begin{tabular}{p{3cm}S[table-format=3.1]S[table-format=2.1]} % adapt this 3cm to your needs
            \toprule 
            Country         & {Parameter A} & {Parameter B} \\
            \midrule            
            Quantity of $x$ & 0.8           & 25.6          \\          
            Quantity of $y$ & 100           & 9.4           \\              
            Quantity of $z$ & 10            & 12.6          \\                      
            Quantity of $a$ and some more writing if you like & 100 & 30 \\             
            \bottomrule
        \end{tabular}
        \caption{Table 1}       
    \end{table} 
\end{document}

enter image description here

I included the package microtype here in order to get a better kerning in narrow cells with long text. If you are having that much space, you could just adapt the width of the first column until it looks nice to you. If you are getting ugly results like in my screenshot or if you want all the "Quantity of..." aligned horizontally, you should make the last cell (or the first row) ragged right (thanks to Barbara Beeton for this objection).

This could look like \multicolumn{1}{>{\raggedright}p{3cm}}{Quantity of $a$ and some more writing if you like}, which yields:

enter image description here

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] space between columns titles in tabular

[Tex/LaTex] Reducing space between columns manually

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