[Tex/LaTex] \setlength not working

spacingtables

I am having trouble with setting space before and after a table. Here is my code for a ten-column table:

\begin{tabular}{cccccccccc} 
\toprule
..
..
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

As you can see, it can't be any simpler. In my text body I've used 1.5 spacing and I want that to be the spacing between the text and the table above and below. However, \setlength{\intextsep}{1.5pt} doesn't do a thing no matter what size I choose, be it 1.5pt or 6pt.

The problem is partially solved by beginning with the command \begin{tabular}[t], as the [t] part aligns the table with the text above, but the text below the document remains right below the bottom rule.

Best Answer

\intextsep deals with the gap between a float within the text body and the rest of the text around it (see Remove space after figure and before text). Since you're using only a tabular, there is no floating behaviour, hence the non-response from setting \intextsep.

If you wish to add some space above/below the non-floating tabular, do so using

\vspace{\baselineskip}
\begin{tabular}{...}
  ...
\end{tabular}
\vspace{\baselineskip}

where you adjust \baselineskip to suit your needs. You may even consider creating a new length (say) \tabularsep which you set in your preamble to a suitable length.

Of course, you could also wrap the tabular inside a table (which is a float) with an [H] specifier (provided by the float package) so that it could be treated like a regular tabular. That way an adjustment to \intextsep should work as expected.

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