How to draw compact tables in latex

Question

I want to draw a compact table similar to this.

In other words I want to divide the two test-cases using bold lines and small fonts (i.e. compact table- table that takes a less space with multiple entries).

I am currently using the following latex code. However, it does not seem to produce a table in this form.

\begin{table}
\caption{Performance Comparison}\label{table1}
\begin{tabular}{|p{5cm}|p{5cm}|}
\hline
Main Test-case & \\
\hline
test & test\\
\hline
test & test\\
\hline
Main Test-case & \\
\hline
test & test\\
\hline
test & test\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

I am wondering if I am using the correct package and how to draw a table similar to the image.

I am happy to provide more details if needed.

If you are determined on this format, perhaps look at makecell and tabularx. But you should read what booktabs says about vertical rules. (In some cases, the prohibition should be ignored, but those cases are much, much rarer than you might think.) — cfr, Nov 23 '19 at 04:20
This will be impossible to fit into a portrait page while keeping the table still readably. You might have to switch to a landscape oriented page instead. For the sake or readability I personally would transpose your table on a portrait page and use booktabs in combination with siunitx. — leandriis, Nov 23 '19 at 06:29
Please prepare a minimal working example containing the amount of columns that you need in your actual table. Please also make sure that the contents in your table cells are of similar length as thouse in your actual table as well. With such an MWE you are more likely to recieve useful answers. Please also make sure your MWE contains the documentclass you are using as well as the relevant settings that determine the used margins and font sizes. — leandriis, Nov 23 '19 at 06:31
One can compactify tables by reducing \setlength\tabcolsep{1pt} and setting \arraystretch to a small value, and so on. However, as mentioned in the above comments, it is not clear if one should do that. Nowadays such data is no longer printed in papers, but put somewhere where people can download it, and one uses other means to communicate the information encoded in such data. — , Nov 23 '19 at 06:52

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 23 '19 at 14:45

I'd suggest one of the following two transposed layouts:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{booktabs}


\begin{document}

\begin{table}
\caption{caption text}
\footnotesize \setlength{\tabcolsep}{2.7pt}
\begin{tabular}{>{\bfseries}l *{5}{l} p{0.5\tabcolsep} *{5}{l}}
\toprule
 & \multicolumn{5}{c}{some text} &&  \multicolumn{5}{c}{some text} \\
 \cmidrule(r){2-6} \cmidrule(l){8-12}
 & min & max & mean & median & std && min & max & mean & median & std\\
 \midrule
 DE & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
  CMA-ES & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
   1+1EA & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
    PSO & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
     NM-M & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
      DE-NM & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
       CMAES-NM & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
        1+1EA-NM & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
         Dual-DE & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
          LS-N M\textsubscript{16S} & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
            LS-N M\textsubscript{32S} & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
             LS-N M\textsubscript{64S} & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
              SLS-NM(BR) & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
               SLS-NM(r) & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
                SLS-NM(r) & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
                 SLS-NM(r) & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
                  SLS-NM-B2 & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\begin{table}
\caption{caption text}
\small \setlength{\tabcolsep}{1.85pt}
\begin{tabular}{l *{5}{l} p{0.5\tabcolsep} *{5}{l}}
\toprule
 & \multicolumn{5}{c}{some text} &&  \multicolumn{5}{c}{some text} \\
 \cmidrule(r){2-6} \cmidrule(l){8-12}
 & min & max & mean & median & std && min & max & mean & median & std\\
 \midrule
 DE & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
  CMA-ES & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
   1+1EA & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
    PSO & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
    \addlinespace
     NM-M & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
      DE-NM & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
       CMAES-NM & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
        1+1EA-NM & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
                 \addlinespace
         Dual-DE & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
          LS-N M\textsubscript{16S} & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
            LS-N M\textsubscript{32S} & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
             LS-N M\textsubscript{64S} & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
             \addlinespace
              SLS-NM(BR) & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
               SLS-NM(r) & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
                SLS-NM(r) & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
                 SLS-NM(r) & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
                  SLS-NM-B2 & 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 && 1234567 & 1234567 &  1234567 &  1234567 &  12345.67 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\end{document}

Sveinung · Accepted Answer · 2019-11-23T16:39:52.200

Here is a solution that actually fit inside a landscape A4 page. This time with correct figures.

I have used scrartcl from KOMAscript, and the areaset-command to set a huge type area. At page 49 in the manual, you will find the code examples to use the same commands with the standard article-class. To gain more space, I have reduced \tabcolsep (the space between columns) to 0.25em, see line 6 in my code.

As you will see, I suggest using booktabs’ rules, because you have so much flexibility to set heavy rules. In addition, I have set some white space between row 3 and 4 to ease the reading. Using booktabs, vertical line has to go away, but they are unnecessary. In addition, I have used a sans serif font (Optima), which work well in small font size. Optima can be downloaded from CTAN, but is not installed as part of MikTeX (which I use):

\documentclass[fontsize=10pt, headinclude=true,footinclude=true, paper=landscape, DIV=30]{scrartcl}
\renewcommand{\rmdefault}{uop}
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage{array, booktabs}

\setlength{\tabcolsep}{0.25em}
\areaset{28.5cm}{15cm}

\newcommand{\tss}[1]{\textsubscript{#1}}


\begin{document}

\begin{table}[th!]
\caption{Performance Comparison}\label{table1}
\centering\small

\begin{tabular}{@{}>{\bfseries}l*{17}{r}@{}}

\toprule[1pt]
\multicolumn{18}{@{}c@{}}{\bfseries Perth wave scenario (16-buoy)}\\
\midrule[0.75pt]

Methods & \textbf{DE} & \textbf{CMA-ES} & \textbf{1+1EA }& \textbf{PSO} & \textbf{NM-M} & \textbf{DE-NM} & \textbf{CMAES-NM} & \textbf{1+1EA-NM} & \textbf{Dual-DE} & \textbf{LS-N}\emph{M\tss{16S}} & \textbf{LS-N}\emph{M\tss{32S}} & \textbf{LS-N}\emph{M\tss{64S}} & \textbf{SLS-NM(BR)} & \textbf{SLS-NM(r)} & \textbf{SLS-NM(C)} & \textbf{SLS-NM-B1} & \textbf{SLS-NM-B2} \\
\midrule[0.75pt]

Max     & 2652393 & 2680843 & 2644987 & 2289764 & 1893411 & 1845065 & 2059607 & 2125726 & 2453857 & 2554865 & 2613619 & 2626506 & 2723676 & 2716463 & 2709385 & 2739658 & \bfseries 2741489 \\
Min     & 2582793 & 2603920 & 2263180 & 1935340 & 1561609 & 1829109 & 1816940 & 1790521 & 2399372 & 2384981 & 2481663 & 2482512 & 2669097 & 2540090 & 2635628 & 2723886 & 2723470\\
\addlinespace[3pt]
Mean    & 2613938 & 2657924 & 2476649 & 2034625 & 1709664 & 1839680 & 1917947 & 1930481 & 2442276 & 2449269 & 2547633 & 2570651 & 2708267 & 2677821 & 2691542 & 2733105 & \bfseries 2735345 \\
Median  & 2609441 & 2661285 & 2476649 & 2011311 & 1696728 & 1840299 & 1902074 & 1902254 & 2453857 & 2442901 & 2545870 & 2584010 & 2711875 & 2692056 & 2701771 & 2733962 & \bfseries 2736453 \\
Std     & 21601.36 & 20844.29 & 109986.19 & 90666.26 & 96667.21 & 421.50 & 76927.84 & 96648.77 & 20511.38 & 53689.15 & 40651.08 & 49948.44 & 14434.14 & 48718.95 & 24252.10 & 4426.12 & 4986.80 \\
\bottomrule[2pt]
\addlinespace[3pt]
\multicolumn{18}{@{}c@{}}{\bfseries Sydney wave scenario (16-buoy)}\\
\midrule[0.75pt]

Methods & \textbf{DE} & \textbf{CMA-ES} & \textbf{1+1EA }& \textbf{PSO} & \textbf{NM-M} & \textbf{DE-NM} & \textbf{CMAES-NM} & \textbf{1+1EA-NM} & \textbf{Dual-DE} & \textbf{LS-N}\emph{M\tss{16S}} & \textbf{LS-N}\emph{M\tss{32S}} & \textbf{LS-N}\emph{M\tss{64S}} & \textbf{SLS-NM(BR)} & \textbf{SLS-NM(r)} & \textbf{SLS-NM(C)} & \textbf{SLS-NM-B1} & \textbf{SLS-NM-B2} \\
\midrule[0.75pt]

Max     & 1544911 & 1551852 & 1550820 & 1498996 & 1393383 & 1372431 & 1524002 & 1541064 & 1488451 & 1525789 & 1542636 & 1551640 & 1556956 & 1550054 & 1534157 & 1559578 & \bfseries 1564334\\
Min     & 1525043 & 1533453 & 1461996 & 1396223 & 1256857 & 1363834 & 1392057 & 1414872 & 1420995 & 1507479 & 1523444 & 1518276 & 1526266 & 1489493 & 1465638 & 1546369 & 1529929 \\
\addlinespace[3pt]
Mean    & 1536324 & 1547951 & 1526867 & 1438377 & 1337175 & 1367502 & 1454505 & 1467659 & 1462382 & 1514404 & 1532215 & 1535923 & 1544706 & 1525152 & 1512476 & 1553629 & \bfseries 1556447 \\
Median  & 1538708 & 1549616 & 1531683 & 1435726 & 1338054 & 1367767 & 1441785 & 1467420 & 1465419 & 1513593 & 1528728 & 1535516 & 1548100 & 1523762 & 1518423 & 1553779 & \bfseries 1558319 \\
Std     & 6559.22 & 4996.61 & 25962.37 & 31262 & 41794.00 & 2508.76 & 47091.11 & 32623.75 & 14999.60 & 5125.37 & 7224.27 & 12944.20 & 10965.95 & 17681.23 & 18379.27 & 3293.68 & 8931.08 \\
\bottomrule[1pt]
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\end{document}

However, when I try to enter your code to latex I get an error in the line \areaset{28.5cm}{15cm} saying that Latex Error: missing \begin{document}. Do you know how to resolve this? Looking forward to hearing from you :) — EmJ, Nov 23 '19 at 22:49
@EmJ This is difficult to say, because I copied the code dirctly from the ode window in the browser, pasted it into a new Texworks document, and it compiled without error. Often,you get this error because you have a letter, a punctuation mark or something in you preamble. You have to look at the error message and see if you have a line number there and look for something that should not be there. — Sveinung, Nov 23 '19 at 23:46
@EmJ I suggest you copy the code from the code window in the answer, paste it into a new document, and see if it compiles. Similar error message popped up for me in another document, and I had accidentally put an apostrophe in the beginning of a blank line. for me it looked like dirt on the screen, and I used a considerable amount of time before realising what was going on. — Sveinung, Nov 23 '19 at 23:57

js bibra · Answer 3 · 2019-11-23T03:56:47.783

Add \resizebox{\linewidth}{!}{%

before the line

\begin{tabular}{lll}

and

}

after

\end{tabular}

Also have alook at

My table doesn't fit; what are my options?

EDIT 1--for thick lines

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
\usepackage{tabu}
\begin{document}

\begin{tabu}{c|[2pt]c|c|c|c|c}
    $*$ & $a$ & $b$ & $c$ & $d$ & $e$ \\\tabucline[2pt]{-}
    $a$ & $a$ & $b$ & $c$ & $b$ & $d$ \\\hline
    $b$ & $b$ & $c$ & $a$ & $e$ & $c$ \\\hline
    $c$ & $c$ & $a$ & $b$ & $b$ & $a$ \\\hline
    $d$ & $b$ & $e$ & $b$ & $e$ & $d$ \\\hline
    $e$ & $d$ & $b$ & $a$ & $d$ & $c$
\end{tabu}

\end{document}

EDIT 2--For smaller font

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}
\tiny
\centering
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|}
Knuth & Lamport
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\end{document}

Editing the code provided by the OP

\begin{table}
\tiny
\caption{Performance Comparison}\label{table1}
\begin{tabular}{|p{5cm}|p{5cm}|}
\hline
Main Test-case & \\
\hline
test & test\\
\hline
test & test\\
\hline
Main Test-case & \\
\hline
test & test\\
\hline
test & test\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

output

thank you for the answer. However, it does not add any bold line or did any change to my current table. — EmJ, Nov 23 '19 at 03:23
This is a compendium of bad ideas. tabu is definitely not recommended. Resizing a box is an extremely poor solution. Using \tiny is a poor solution, although the OP's question somewhat invites it. — cfr, Nov 23 '19 at 04:16

How to draw compact tables in latex

3 Answers3

EDIT 1--for thick lines

EDIT 2--For smaller font

Editing the code provided by the OP

output