Wrapping Text When Combining Columns in a Table

Question

I am trying to simply wrap the text centered across two columns. The text is long so wrapping is needed. However, the result truncates the text.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{multirow}

\begin{document}
\begin{tabular} { |p{0.50\textwidth} |p{0.50\textwidth} |}
\hline
\multicolumn{2} {|c|} 
{Number and Percent of Selected Cardiovascular Events by Treatment Group
 and Hazard Ratio From Cox Regression Analysis}\\
\hline
Data Information 1 & Data Information 2\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

Welcome to TeX.SX! Your code isen't compilable,please edit. Does Wrap text around wide figure in two column help(image insteas table)? — Bobyandbob, Sep 05 '17 at 19:23

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 05 '17 at 19:21

You seem to be after a 2-column tabular where each column occupies 50% of the \textwidth. In these instances it's sometimes easier to use tabularx's X-column to spread things evenly. The calculation for the \multicolumn removes the column padding and rule width to ensure the paragraph content fits within the remainder of \textwidth after those lengths are removed:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tabularx}

\begin{document}

\noindent
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{ | X | X | }
  \hline
  \multicolumn{2} { | p{\dimexpr \textwidth-2\tabcolsep-2\arrayrulewidth} | }{%
    Number and Percent of Selected Cardiovascular Events by Treatment Group
    and Hazard Ratio From Cox Regression Analysis} \\
  \hline
  Data Information 1 & Data Information 2 \\
  \hline
\end{tabularx}

\end{document}

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 05 '17 at 19:22

The column width calculations are a little more complicate:

By default, the space \tabcolsep is added at the left and right side of a column.
The rules have width \arrayrulewidth. The width contributes to the table width if package array is loaded.
The column width for \multicolumn can also be calculated and column type p can be used.

Full example that shows the calculations if package array is loaded.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array}

\begin{document}
\noindent
\begin{tabular} {
  |p{.5\dimexpr\linewidth-4\tabcolsep-3\arrayrulewidth\relax}
  |p{.5\dimexpr\linewidth-4\tabcolsep-3\arrayrulewidth\relax} |}
\hline
\multicolumn{2} {|>{\centering}p{\dimexpr\linewidth-2\tabcolsep-2\arrayrulewidth\relax}|}
{Number and Percent of Selected Cardiovascular Events by Treatment Group
 and Hazard Ratio From Cox Regression Analysis}\\
\hline
Data Information 1 & Data Information 2\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

Wrapping Text When Combining Columns in a Table

2 Answers2