Boldfacing an entire row in a longtable environment

Question

I have a really long \longtable - some 150 rows. I need to make certain rows (~80 of them) boldface and leave the other ones normal. But just putting {\bf a & b & ... & z} \\ causes an error. Is there an elegant, simple way to do this? I've searched, but can't find anything.

The following does not seem to work, at least not on my machine:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}

\usepackage{array,longtable}

\newcolumntype{C}{>{\rowfont}c}
\newcommand\setrowfont[1]{\noalign{\gdef\rowfont{#1}}}
\gdef\rowfont{}

\begin{document}

\begin{longtable}{l||c|c}
\setrowfont{\bfseries}
let's & try & this\\ \hline
\setrowfont{\bfseries\itshape}
and & see & if\\
it & might & work
\end{longtable}

\end{document}

one of the first users of longtable, last century, had tables that were several thousand rows long (and over 1100 tables in his document) so 150 rows isn't really long. — David Carlisle, Jul 01 '13 at 16:34

David Carlisle · Answer 1 · 2017-06-03T13:00:33.210

11

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array,longtable}
\newcolumntype{C}{>{\rowfont}c}
\newcommand\setrowfont[1]{\noalign{\gdef\rowfont{#1}}}
\gdef\rowfont{}

\begin{document}

\begin{longtable}{CCC}
\setrowfont{\bfseries}
a&bb&ccc\\
aa&bbbb&cccccc\\
\setrowfont{\bfseries\itshape}
a&bb&ccc\\
\setrowfont{}
a&bb&ccc\\
a&bbbb&cccccc\\
a&bbbb&cccccc\\
\setrowfont{\bfseries}
a&bb&ccc\\
\setrowfont{}
a&bb&ccc
\end{longtable}

\end{document}

edited Jun 03 '17 at 13:00

answered Jul 01 '13 at 16:42

David Carlisle

757,742

You've done exactly what I wanted, but I can't get this to work on my machine...it's not giving me any errors; it's just not boldfacing the rows! – colorlessgreenidea Jul 01 '13 at 17:00
@user11693 You mean if you copy the code above it does not produce the image shown? (That seems unlikely) or do you mean it doesn't work when you apply to your real document? – David Carlisle Jul 01 '13 at 17:02
Hi David. Please see my edit in the OP! I'm beginning to think that the "|" in the argument of longtable are causing the problem! – colorlessgreenidea Jul 01 '13 at 17:04
2

@user11693 you've used c not the C column defined to pick up the font – David Carlisle Jul 01 '13 at 17:06
D'oh! Wow...THAT was stupid. Curse you, case-sensitivity. Thanks, David! Works like a charm :) – colorlessgreenidea Jul 01 '13 at 18:22

score 8 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 09 '17 at 16:34

Package array allows to insert macros into the cells. This macro can be a font setting command. At the start of a bold row, it is globally defined as \bfseries, at the end of the row it is reset:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{longtable}
\usepackage{array}

\newcommand*{\boldrow}{%
  \global\let\rowfont\bfseries
  \bfseries
}
\newcommand*{\unboldrow}{%
  \global\let\rowfont\relax
  \mdseries
}
\newcommand*{\rowfont}{}

\begin{document}

\begin{longtable}{>{\rowfont}l>{\rowfont}l<{\unboldrow}}
1 & a\\
\boldrow 2 & b\\
3 & c\\
\boldrow 4 & d\\
\boldrow 5 & e\\
6 & f\\
7 & g\\
\boldrow 8\\
\unboldrow 9 & h\\
\end{longtable}

\end{document}

Remarks:

In the example, the bold font is automatically reset, if the last cell is reached. Otherwise (line 8), in the next line \unboldfont can be used.

Boldfacing an entire row in a longtable environment

2 Answers2

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