Avoid repeating [hbt] and \centering for every table

Question

In a document I'm writing, I'm using the familiar [hbt] option for my floating tables, and I center them. I'd like to avoid repeating that every time I'm creating a table. I assume it's easy to add something in my preamble that makes sure that these two options are used every time I begin a new table environment?

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}[hbt]
\centering
\begin{tabular}{*3{l}}
1 & 2 & 3\\
a & b & c\\
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\end{document}

Answer 1

the default figure placement can be set with

\makeatletter
\renewcommand\fps@figure{htbp}
\makeatletter

(It's almost always a bad idea not to include p in the default)

For centering you can add it to \@floatboxreset

\makeatletter
\def \@floatboxreset {%
        \reset@font
        \normalsize
        \@setminipage
\centering%<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
}
\makeatletter

Answer 2

The float package provides an interface to specify the float placement for a specific float using

\floatplacement{<type>}{<spec>}

The \floatplacement command resets the default placement specifier of a class of floats. So, one could use

\floatplacement{table}{hbt}

to achieve what you're after.

Answer 3

Try

\documentclass{article}

\newenvironment{mytable}
{\begin{table}[hbt]
  \centering}
{\end{table}}

\begin{document}

\begin{mytable}
\begin{tabular}{*3{l}}
1 & 2 & 3\\
a & b & c\\
\end{tabular}
\end{mytable}
\end{document}

\end{document}

Answer 4

Combining Werner's answer here with lockstep's answer to How can I automatically center an image?, we can do it like this:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{floatrow} % this automatically centers all floats
    \floatplacement{table}{hbtp} % all tables are given the [hbtp] option
\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{*3{l}}
1 & 2 & 3\\
a & b & c\\
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\end{document}