cannot use \caption under minipage

Question

I am using following code to import two images next to each other. When \caption{} is used, LaTeX gives me error caption outside float.

\begin{minipage}{.5\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{fig1.eps}
\caption{text for fig1}
\label{fig:fig1}            
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{.5\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{fig2.eps}
\caption{text for fig2}
\label{fig:fig2}            
\end{minipage}

When I remove the \caption from both places, the code compiles correctly.

\begin{minipage}{.5\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{fig1.eps}
\label{fig:fig1}            
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{.5\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{fig2.eps}
\label{fig:fig2}            
\end{minipage}

But both the codes do not generate any label naming the figure. (something like Figure 21).

Am I missing anything?

see http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/22662/create-caption-without-float-and-without-caption-package — Marco Daniel, May 26 '12 at 14:04

score 30 · Accepted Answer · edited May 26 '12 at 14:07

30

To place a caption outside a floating environment, you can use \captionof from the capt-of or caption packages::

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{caption}

\begin{document}

\noindent\begin{minipage}{.5\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{fig1.eps}
\captionof{figure}{Some figure}
\label{fig:fig1}            
\end{minipage}%
\begin{minipage}{.5\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{fig2.eps}
\captionof{figure}{Some figure}
\label{fig:fig2}            
\end{minipage}

\end{document}

Notice the \noindent and % character I added to prevent undesired spacing.

edited May 26 '12 at 14:07

Marco Daniel

95,681

answered May 26 '12 at 14:02

Gonzalo Medina

505,128

The command captionof is provided by every KOMA class, the package capt-of and the package caption – Marco Daniel May 26 '12 at 14:03
so I have to add a package using \usepackage{caption}? because as it is, it is giving undefined control sequence error. – maths-help-seeker May 26 '12 at 14:07
@maths-help-seeker yes, either caption (as I did in my example) or capt-of . – Gonzalo Medina May 26 '12 at 14:08
1

@maths-help-seeker: Yes, but you can only do that in the document preamble. See Documents with typical LaTeX errors. – Werner May 26 '12 at 14:09
ok thanks! it worked. It is also now showing the labels. :) – maths-help-seeker May 26 '12 at 14:10
Thanks a lot ... although it took me a while to find this answer ... – ankhi Aug 31 '14 at 18:19
Although 1 question if somebody answers ... the captions of the two minipages dont have any separation ... how to introduce one because both my figures have long captions ... – ankhi Aug 31 '14 at 18:27

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 01 '18 at 12:37

3

You can also wrap a figure environment around your minipage, that way you do not need to use captionof or capt-of:

\begin{figure}[!htbp]
    \begin{minipage}{0.5\textwidth}
        \centering
        \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{Images/img1.JPG}
        \caption{cap1}
        \label{fig:img1}
    \end{minipage}\hfill
    \begin{minipage}{0.5\textwidth}
        \centering
        \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{Images/img2}
        \caption{cap2}
        \label{fig:img2}
    \end{minipage}
\end{figure}

answered Feb 01 '18 at 12:37

Abdulkadir Eroglu

31
2

3

But this will in general allow the unit to float (despite all your !h). – Andrew Swann Feb 01 '18 at 12:40
@AndrewSwann true, my assumption was, that two images in one minipage are meant to work like one composed image, where floating may be accepted:) – Abdulkadir Eroglu Feb 02 '18 at 13:59
using [H] with \begin{figure}[H] or \begin{table}[H] will resolve the floating issue (enabled with \usepackage{float} if I recall correctly) – Gene Burinsky Nov 01 '18 at 21:09

cannot use \caption under minipage

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