Vertical alignment with nested tables

Question

It's almost embarrassing to ask: How can I vertically align the contents of one column to the top beside a second column holding nested tables. Please have a look at the minimal working example:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{booktabs}

\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{cl}
  \textbf{top/center} & \textbf{top/left} \\
  \midrule
  foo &
  \begin{tabular}{ll}
    bla & blub \\
    bla & blub \\
    bla & blub \\
  \end{tabular} \\
  \midrule
  bar &
  \begin{tabular}{ll}
    bla & blub \\
    bla & blub \\
    bla & blub \\
    bla & blub \\
  \end{tabular} \\
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

In this example, "foo" and "bar" should be aligned to the top vertically and to the center horizontally. The nested tables should be aligned top left.

The contents of the tables are filled dynamically. Thus, I cannot apply tricks like using \raisebox or something (or at least I don't know how to apply such tricks dynamically in my case).

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 15 '17 at 04:45

5

You can use [t] option on any tabular to top align it.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{cl}
  \textbf{top/center} & \textbf{top/left} \\
  \midrule
  foo &
  \begin{tabular}[t]{ll}
    bla & blub \\
    bla & blub \\
    bla & blub \\
  \end{tabular} \\
  \midrule
  bar &
  \begin{tabular}[t]{ll}
    bla & blub \\
    bla & blub \\
    bla & blub \\
    bla & blub \\
  \end{tabular} \\
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

enter image description here

edited Mar 15 '17 at 04:45

Werner

603,163

answered Dec 01 '11 at 11:36

Ignasi

136,588

Like I said, really embarrassing! ;) Thanks for your answer. That did the trick. But I find it somewhat surprising: I set the vertical alignment of the tables in the right column, which affects the alignment of "foo" and "bar" outside of these tables in the left column... oO – Flinsch Dec 01 '11 at 12:22
look at this previous questions problem-with-table-vertical-alignment, how-to-vertically-center-the-text-of-the-cells. May be they help you to understand it. You can also look at Related questions on the right. – Ignasi Dec 01 '11 at 15:20

Vertical alignment with nested tables

1 Answers1