Problem with setting up vertical lines in booktabs tables

Question

As pointed out here it is important to use

\multicolumn{3}{|l|}{}

in the following line of multicolumn.

Nevertheless I am struggling around with the same issue (unconnected vertical lines) and can't find a solution for it:

Here is how far I got. Any ideas would be great.

\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{makecell}

{\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{2}%
\begin{table}
\centering
\begin{tabular}{@{}ll|cc@{}} \toprule
\multicolumn{2}{c|}{\multirow{2}{*}{}} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Text} \\
\cmidrule(r){3-4}
\multicolumn{2}{c|}{} & A & B\\ \midrule
\multicolumn{1}{c|}{\multirow{2}{*}{\thead{Text1 and \\ Text2}}} & C & \thead{1\\and 1}& 2 \\
\multicolumn{1}{c|}{} & D & 3 & \thead{4\\ and 4} \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}} \quad

The line between Text1andText2 and C / D maybe should stay as it is. — KLJ, Dec 04 '18 at 17:57
The issue is not the same as the linked question. The gaps you see is because you are using vertical rules with booktabs. The booktabs documentation emphasizes "Never, ever use vertical rules". If you replace the \toprule, \bottomrule and \midrule by \hline the gaps will close. Better to remove the vertical rules, though. — Phelype Oleinik, Dec 04 '18 at 17:59
please look at the documentation for booktabs, the package author makes it clear he thinks vertical rules are evil and by design the package makes them unusable — David Carlisle, Dec 04 '18 at 18:23

Bernard · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-04T21:17:09.980

Booktabs sets a vertical padding above and below its rules. You can set this padding to 0, and enjoy the other functionalities. Anyway, with \arraystretch set to 2, do you really need it? If necessary, you can replace it with the \setcellgapes command from makecell. I took the opportunity to slightly simplify the code of your table, with the \multirowthead command:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{makecell}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{2}%
\centering
\aboverulesep = 0pt
\belowrulesep = 0pt
\begin{tabular}{@{}ll|cc@{}} \toprule
\multicolumn{2}{c|}{\multirow{2}{*}{}} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Text} \\
\cmidrule(r){3-4}
\multicolumn{2}{c|}{} & A & B\\ \midrule
\multicolumn{1}{c|}{\multirowthead{2}[-1ex]{Text1 and \\ Text2}} & C & \thead{1\\and 1}& 2 \\
\multicolumn{1}{c|}{} & D & 3 & \thead{4\\ and 4} \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table} \quad

\end{document}

Thanks for the support and simplification as well! – KLJ Dec 05 '18 at 07:31 — KLJ, Dec 05 '18 at 07:31
Interesting to see that there is no "multicolumnthead" – KLJ Dec 05 '18 at 07:51 — KLJ, Dec 05 '18 at 07:51
@KLJ: Yes, that's a mystery to me. – Bernard Dec 05 '18 at 09:31 — Bernard, Dec 05 '18 at 09:31

KLJ · Answer 2 · 2018-12-05T08:12:42.443

1

As mentioned in the booktabs documentation (and with that in the comments above) I tried it without the vertical lines and have to admit that it looks better now:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{makecell}

\begin{document}    

{\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{2}%
\begin{table}
\centering
\begin{tabular}{@{}ccc@{}}
\toprule
& \multicolumn{2}{c}{Text} \\
\cmidrule(r){2-3}
\thead{Text1 and \\ Text2} & A & B\\
\midrule
C & \thead{1\\and 1}& 2 \\
D & 3 & \thead{4\\ and 4} \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}} \quad

\end{document}

edited Dec 05 '18 at 08:12

answered Dec 05 '18 at 08:03

KLJ

35

often it also (if space permits) looks better if you space it out, aka add more horizontal space – daleif Dec 05 '18 at 08:59
That is true. I my case it doesn't. But if other (also) wonder how to add horizontal spcae: {\setlength{\tabcolsep}{2em} TABLE } – KLJ Dec 05 '18 at 12:01
That is not a good way, this evenly added space everywhere, not really what we want. Often we want space between columns. I have a tendency to introduce extra columns just for this. – daleif Dec 05 '18 at 12:39

Problem with setting up vertical lines in booktabs tables

2 Answers2