[Tex/LaTex] Problems with \toprule and \midrule in a table

booktabsrulestables

Having the following siunitx table code in LyX, for each occurrence of \toprule and \midrule I obtain an error message:

The control sequence at the end of the top line of your error message
was never \def'ed. If you have misspelled it (e.g., `hobx'), type `I'
and the correct spelling (e.g., `I\hbox'). Otherwise just continue,
and I'll forget about whatever was undefined.

I correctly imported siunitx in the preamble.
TexLive version: 2012.10.20121205_r28449.fc18

LaTeX code:

\centering
\sisetup{output-decimal-marker={,}}

\begin{tabular}{ccS}
\toprule
{Dimensione finestra} & {Perdita} & {Tempo}\\
{} & {} & {(secondi)}\\
\midrule
10                & 0$\%$       & 121\\
\midrule
10                & 10$\%$       & 127\\
\midrule
10                & 20$\%$       & 176\\
\midrule
10                & 30$\%$       & 257\\
\midrule
10                & 40$\%$       & 442\\
\midrule
10                & 50$\%$       & 780\\
\midrule
10                & 60$\%$       & 1226\\
\midrule
10                & 70$\%$       & 1469\\
\midrule
10                & 80$\%$       & 1904 \\
\midrule
10                & 90$\%$       & 3234 \\
\midrule
50                & 0$\%$        & 46 \\
\midrule
50                & 10$\%$       &109 \\
\midrule
50                & 20$\%$       &146 \\
\midrule
50                & 30$\%$       &202 \\
\midrule
50                & 40$\%$       &257 \\
\midrule
50                & 50$\%$       &373 \\
\midrule
50                & 60$\%$       &544 \\
\midrule
50                & 70$\%$       &760 \\
\midrule
50                & 80$\%$       &1356 \\
\midrule
50                & 90$\%$       &6588 \\
\midrule
100                & 0$\%$       &76 \\
\midrule
100                & 10$\%$       &91 \\
\midrule
100                & 20$\%$       &109 \\
\midrule
100                & 30$\%$       &146 \\
\midrule
100                & 40$\%$       &180 \\
\midrule
100                & 50$\%$       &297 \\
\midrule
100                & 60$\%$       &414 \\
\midrule
100                & 70$\%$       &585 \\
\midrule
100                & 80$\%$       &1355 \\
\midrule
100                & 90$\%$       &4326 \\

\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

Best Answer

\midrule is a command defined by the Booktabs package. Include \usepackage{booktabs} in your preamble to typeset your table.

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Use of \midrule in booktabs table

The \midrule instruction generates a horizontal line that's (i) a bit thinner than either \toprule or \bottomrule and (ii) provides some extra vertical spacing both above and below the rule. As such, a \midrule is best used to separate a table's header row(s) from the body of the table, and a table's body from the footer material (if present, of course).

If the table contains rows and rows of identically formatted data but no header or footer components, I would not use a \midrule at all. Inserting a \midrule between each and every row constitutes, to me at least, a violation of the spirit of the booktabs package that's nearly as egregious as using vertical rules. :-)

If it's absolutely necessary to provide some separation between the rows, I'd either adjust the amount of default vertical space or add a bit of extra vertical space -- via an instruction such as \\[0.5ex] -- after every fifth row or so. The amount of extra space will depend on the table's width: the wider the table, the more whitespace should be inserted after a group of rows.

Addendum: Here's a comparison of the look of the table you've linked to in your posting, first with all midrules present, and second with a midrule used only to separate the header material from the table's body. (I've also applied a few additional tweaks, such as inserting a touch of extra vertical space after the third row). I believe most readers will find the second table to be more readable -- and certainly much less cluttered -- than is the first.

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\setlength\parindent{0pt} % just for this example
\begin{document}
\emph{Before: Lots of midrules}

\smallskip
\begin{tabular}{lrrrrrrrrrrr}
\toprule
  & mpg & cyl & disp & hp & drat & wt & qsec & vs & am & gear & carb\\
\midrule
Mazda RX4 & 21.0 & 6 & 160 & 110 & 3.90 & 2.620 & 16.46 & 0 & 1 & 4 & 4\\
\midrule
Mazda RX4 Wag & 21.0 & 6 & 160 & 110 & 3.90 & 2.875 & 17.02 & 0 & 1 & 4 & 4\\
\midrule
Datsun 710 & 22.8 & 4 & 108 &  93 & 3.85 & 2.320 & 18.61 & 1 & 1 & 4 & 1\\
\midrule
Hornet 4 Drive & 21.4 & 6 & 258 & 110 & 3.08 & 3.215 & 19.44 & 1 & 0 & 3 & 1\\
\midrule
Hornet Sportabout & 18.7 & 8 & 360 & 175 & 3.15 & 3.440 & 17.02 & 0 & 0 & 3 & 2\\
\midrule
Valiant & 18.1 & 6 & 225 & 105 & 2.76 & 3.460 & 20.22 & 1 & 0 & 3 & 1\\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

\bigskip
\emph{After: Only one midrule, and some additional tweaks}

\smallskip
\begin{tabular}{ @{} l *{7}{r} *{4}{c} @{} } 
\toprule
  & mpg & cyl & disp & hp & drat & wt & qsec & vs & am & gear & carb\\
\midrule
Mazda RX4 & 21.0 & 6 & 160 & 110 & 3.90 & 2.620 & 16.46 & 0 & 1 & 4 & 4\\
Mazda RX4 Wag & 21.0 & 6 & 160 & 110 & 3.90 & 2.875 & 17.02 & 0 & 1 & 4 & 4\\
Datsun 710 & 22.8 & 4 & 108 &  93 & 3.85 & 2.320 & 18.61 & 1 & 1 & 4 & 1\\[0.6ex]
Hornet 4 Drive & 21.4 & 6 & 258 & 110 & 3.08 & 3.215 & 19.44 & 1 & 0 & 3 & 1\\
Hornet Sportabout & 18.7 & 8 & 360 & 175 & 3.15 & 3.440 & 17.02 & 0 & 0 & 3 & 2\\
Valiant & 18.1 & 6 & 225 & 105 & 2.76 & 3.460 & 20.22 & 1 & 0 & 3 & 1\\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

[Tex/LaTex] \midrule splits vertical lines in table

You can have thick \hlines with the makecell package and its \Xhline{width} and \Xcline{col1-col2}{width} commands. You can replace the vertical spacing added by booktabs around horizontal rules (that's responsible for non joining vertical rules) with the cellspace package; it lets you define minimal vertical spacingabove and below cells of a given column, prefixing its specifier with the letter S.

I also took the opportunity to define a set command, based on an example in the documentation of the mathtools package, that produces better horizontal spacing and variable-sized braces

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{makecell}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{hhline}
\usepackage{cellspace}
\setlength\cellspacetoplimit{5pt}
\setlength\cellspacebottomlimit{5pt}
\usepackage{mathtools}
\DeclarePairedDelimiterX\set[1]\{\}{\nonscript\,#1\nonscript\,}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}[!htb]
\centering
\small
\begin{tabular}{| Sc | >{\itshape}l | Sc c c |}
\hline
{\bfseries HD Level} & & & & \\
\Xhline{2pt}
\multirow{2}{*}{1} & Rep-tile: & $\set{1,2}$ & $\set{1,3}$ & $\set{2,3}$ \\
\cline{2-5}
        & Encoding:\ \ \ \ & 1 & 2 & 3 \\
\Xhline{2pt}
\multirow{2}{*}{2} & Rep-tile: & $\set{2}$ & $\set{3}$ & \\
\cline{2-5}
        & Encoding: & 1 & 2 & \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\caption{\small\bf Bla bla}
\label{tab:SMuTexEncoding}
\end{table}

\end{document}

enter image description here

If you want to have coloured rules, it's more complelex: the \arrayrulecolor command (from the colortbl package) doesn't work. A workaround consistsin using the hhline package, setting \arrayrulewidth to 0pt and colouring the interrule space of a double rule. Demo:

\begin{table}[!htb]
\centering
\small\arrayrulecolor{red}
\begin{tabular}{| Sc | >{\itshape}l | Sc c c |}
\hline
{\bfseries HD Level} & & & & \\
\Xhline{2pt}
\multirow{2}{*}{1} & Rep-tile: & $\set{1,2}$ & $\set{1,3}$ & $\set{2,3}$ \\
\cline{2-5}
        & Encoding:\ \ \ \ & 1 & 2 & 3 \\
\Xhline{2pt}
\multirow{2}{*}{2} & Rep-tile: & $\set{2}$ & $\set{3}$ & \\
\cline{2-5}
        & Encoding: & 1 & 2 & \\
\hhline{>{\arrayrulewidth = 0pt\doublerulesep = 2pt \doublerulesepcolor{red}}=====}
\end{tabular}
\caption{\small\bf Bla bla}
\label{tab:SMuTexEncoding}
\end{table}

enter image description here

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Use of \midrule in booktabs table

[Tex/LaTex] \midrule splits vertical lines in table

Related Question