How to automatically line-break a wide table?

Question

If I have a very wide table, how do I let LaTeX line-break it automatically so it won't fall off the page?

I expect it will be split into parts which will be shown on top of each other.

My table is

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}
    \begin{tabular}{*{26}{l}}
        a&b&c&d&e&f&g&h&i&j&k&l&m&n&o&p&q&r&s&t&u&v&w&x&y&z\\ \hline
        z&y&x&w&v&u&t&s&r&q&p&o&n&m&l&k&j&i&h&g&f&e&d&c&b&a \\
        one&two&three&four&five&six&seven&eight&nine&ten&eleven&twelve&
        thirteen&fourteen&fifteen&sixteen&seventeen&eighteen&nineteen&twenty&twenty-one&twenty-two&twenty-three&twenty-four&twenty-five&twenty-six
    \end{tabular}
\end{document}

Relevant questions

How can I get a very wide table to wrap all three rows within the margins? David's answer comes close, but \hline does not work. Werner's answer requires quite some manual fiddling.

The structure of the material you’re looking to typeset doesn’t make it look like the material is suitable to be rendered in tabular form. A simple list, with lots of list items that contain three subitems each, may be more suitable. — Mico, Jan 01 '18 at 20:53
@UlrikeFischer Yeah I should have mentioned something obvious like that, but I was specifically looking to automatically wrap a table instead of manually needing to split during typesetting (not convenient when having to alter it afterwards, for example). — PHPirate, Jan 02 '18 at 12:22

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 01 '18 at 19:01

The best thing I could find was not automatically, by adapting Werner's answer to how I would apply it in practice.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\usepackage{array} % Used for table wrapping
\usepackage{tabularx} % Used for table wrapping
% Define a new command to hide certain columns of a table
\newcolumntype{H}{>{\setbox0=\hbox\bgroup}c<{\egroup}@{}}

\begin{document}

    \lipsum[42]

    \newcommand{\hidetableone}[1]{
    \begin{tabular}{#1}
        a & b & c & d & e & f & g & h & i & j & k & l & m & n & o & p & q & r & s & t & u & v & w & x & y & z\\ \hline
        z & y & x & w & v & u & t & s & r & q & p & o & n & m & l & k & j & i & h & g & f & e & d & c & b & a \\
        one & two & three & four & five & six & seven & eight & nine & ten & eleven & twelve &
        thirteen & fourteen & fifteen & sixteen & seventeen & eighteen & nineteen & twenty &
        twenty-one & twenty-two & twenty-three & twenty-four & twenty-five & twenty-six
    \end{tabular}
    }

    \begin{figure}
        \centering
        \hidetableone{*{0}{H} l | *{9}{l} *{16}{H}}
        \hidetableone{*{10}{H} *{7}{l} *{9}{H}}
        \hidetableone{*{17}{H} *{6}{l} *{3}{H}}
        \hidetableone{*{23}{H} *{3}{l} *{0}{H}}
        \caption{This is a caption for a large table.}
    \end{figure}

\end{document}

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 01 '18 at 21:48

This is essentially an implementation of Mico's comment

\documentclass{article}

\def\zz#1#2#3{\begin{tabular}[t]{l}#1\\\hline#2\\#3\end{tabular}\linebreak[0]\ignorespaces}
\begin{document}

\begin{center}\setlength\lineskip{10pt}
 \zz{a}{z}{one}
\zz{b}{y}{two}
\zz{c}{x}{three}
\zz{d}{w}{four}
\zz{e}{v}{five}
\zz{f}{u}{six}
\zz{g}{t}{seven}
\zz{h}{s}{eight}
\zz{i}{r}{nine}
\zz{j}{q}{ten}
\zz{k}{p}{eleven}
\zz{l}{o}{twelve}
\zz{m}{n}{thirteen}
\zz{n}{m}{fourteen}
\zz{o}{l}{fifteen}
\zz{p}{k}{sixteen}
\zz{q}{j}{seventeen}
\zz{r}{i}{eighteen}
\zz{s}{h}{nineteen}%:-)
\zz{t}{g}{twenty}
\zz{u}{f}{twenty-one}
\zz{v}{e}{twenty-two}
\zz{w}{d}{twenty-three}
\zz{x}{c}{twenty-four}
\zz{y}{b}{twenty-five}
\zz{z}{a}{twenty-six}
\end{center}
\end{document}

Bright one, I had not realised it would be easy to add the \hline there! The only thing I need to remember from now on is to write the table in this way when I know it's going to be long :) This is also much better readable with very wide tables. PS Thanks for counting, lol — PHPirate, Jan 02 '18 at 12:25

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 01 '18 at 23:14

This also supports booktabs rules with a handy syntax.

Limitation. The cells in each row should have the same height. Double rules are not supported.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xparse,environ,booktabs}

\ExplSyntaxOn

\NewEnviron{splittabular}[1]
 {
  \dim_set:Nn \lineskip { 2ex }
  \phpirate_splittabular:nV { #1 } \BODY
  \par
 }

\int_new:N \l__phpirate_rows_int
\seq_new:N \l__phpirate_body_seq
\cs_generate_variant:Nn \seq_set_split:Nnn { c }

\cs_new_protected:Nn \phpirate_splittabular:nn
 {
  \seq_set_split:Nnn \l__phpirate_body_seq { \\ } { #2 }
  \int_zero:N \l__phpirate_rows_int
  \seq_map_inline:Nn \l__phpirate_body_seq
   {
    \int_incr:N \l__phpirate_rows_int
    \seq_clear_new:c { \__phpirate_row:n { \l__phpirate_rows_int } }
    \seq_set_split:cnn { \__phpirate_row:n { \l__phpirate_rows_int } } { & } { ##1 }
    % check for \hline
    \tl_clear_new:c { \__phpirate_hline:n { \l__phpirate_rows_int } }
    \seq_pop_left:cN { \__phpirate_row:n { \l__phpirate_rows_int } } \l_tmpa_tl
    \tl_set_eq:NN \l_tmpb_tl \l_tmpa_tl
    \regex_replace_once:nnN { \c{hline|toprule|midrule|bottomrule} } { } \l_tmpa_tl
    \seq_put_left:cV { \__phpirate_row:n { \l__phpirate_rows_int } } \l_tmpa_tl
    \regex_replace_once:nnN { (\c{hline|toprule|midrule|bottomrule}+).* } { \1 } \l_tmpb_tl
    \tl_set_eq:cN { \__phpirate_hline:n { \l__phpirate_rows_int } } \l_tmpb_tl
    % end code for \hline
   }
  \int_step_inline:nnnn { 1 } { 1 } { \seq_count:c { \__phpirate_row:n { 1 } } }
   {
    \__phpirate_column:nn { #1 } { ##1 }
   }
 }
\cs_generate_variant:Nn \phpirate_splittabular:nn { nV }

\cs_new_protected:Nn \__phpirate_column:nn
 {
  \seq_clear:N \l__phpirate_column_seq
  \int_step_inline:nnnn { 1 } { 1 } { \l__phpirate_rows_int }
   {
    \seq_put_right:Nx \l__phpirate_column_seq
     {
      \exp_not:v { \__phpirate_hline:n { ##1 } }
      \seq_item:cn { \__phpirate_row:n { ##1 } } { #2 }
     }
   }
  \begin{tabular}[t]{#1}
  \seq_use:Nn \l__phpirate_column_seq { \\ }
  \end{tabular}
  \linebreak[0]
 }

\cs_new:Nn \__phpirate_row:n
 {
  l__phpirate_row_ \int_eval:n { #1 } _seq
 }

\cs_new:Nn \__phpirate_hline:n
 {
  l__phpirate_hline_ \int_eval:n { #1 } _tl
 }

\ExplSyntaxOff

\begin{document}

\begin{center}

\begin{splittabular}{c}
\toprule
a&b&c&d&e&f&g&h&i&j&k&l&m&n&o&p&q&r&s&t&u&v&w&x&y&z\\
\midrule
z&y&x&w&v&u&t&s&r&q&p&o&n&m&l&k&j&i&h&g&f&e&d&c&b&a \\
one&two&three&four&five&six&seven&eight&nine&ten&eleven&twelve&
  thirteen&fourteen&fifteen&sixteen&seventeen&eighteen&nineteen&
  twenty&twenty-one&twenty-two&twenty-three&twenty-four&twenty-five&twenty-six \\
\bottomrule
\end{splittabular}

\end{center}

\end{document}

It works also with \hline.

Whoa, the complexity boggles me! You proved it can be done, chapeau. But the effects when removing the \toprule leave me deep in thought, currently... PS Interesting way of counting from 11 to 126 ;) — PHPirate, Jan 02 '18 at 12:34

How to automatically line-break a wide table?

3 Answers3

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