Can I set the format of an entire column except for the header?

Question

I would like to italicize all of the names in the second column of a table, but presently the only way I have found to do this is to use \textit{} in each cell, i.e.:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{lll}
PFT & Scientific Name & Common Name\
PFT1 &  & \
 & \textit{Elymus repens} & quackgrass\
 & \textit{Koeleria macrantha} & prairie Junegrass\
 & \textit{Elymus canadensis} & Canada wildrye\
%....
\end{tabular}
\label{tab:foo}
\caption{test caption}
\end{table}
\end{document}

Is there an easier / more elegant way to do this?

score 14 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 14 '17 at 15:04

14

Use the array package to specify \itshape for the second column, and use the \multicolumn command to cancel the effect for the header.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{array}

\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{l>{\itshape}ll}
PFT & \multicolumn{1}{l}{Scientific Name} & Common Name\\
PFT1 &  & \\
 & Elymus repens & quackgrass\\
 & Koeleria macrantha & prairie Junegrass\\
 & Elymus canadensis & Canada wildrye\\
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

edited Jul 14 '17 at 15:04

samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz

158,329

answered Nov 30 '10 at 00:24

lockstep

250,273

4

Instead of \multicolumn, you can also use \upshape or \textup{...}, although \multicolumn is more general. – Antal Spector-Zabusky Nov 30 '10 at 01:14
6

\normalfont also works. – Caramdir Nov 30 '10 at 01:16
2

@Antal: My idea was not to counter \itshape, but to cancel whatever formatting may have been set for the column. @Caramdir: I didn't think of \normalfont. – lockstep Nov 30 '10 at 06:38

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 09 '17 at 11:53

Instead \multicolumn{1}{l}{Scientific Name} (as lockstep suggested) you can use \normaltext{Scientific Name} as follows:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{array}

\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{l>{\itshape}ll}
PFT & \normaltext{Scientific Name} & Common Name\\
PFT1 &  & \\
 & Elymus repens & quackgrass\\
 & Koeleria macrantha & prairie Junegrass\\
 & Elymus canadensis & Canada wildrye\\
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 24 '21 at 21:38

In {NiceTabular} of nicematrix, you have a built-in counter for the rows, called iRow (it's a LaTeX counter, not a TeX counter). So, it's easy to create a column specifier which will apply only after the first row.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{ifthen}
\usepackage{nicematrix}
\begin{document}
\newcolumntype{B}[1]{>{\ifthenelse{\value{iRow}>1}{#1}{}}}
\begin{NiceTabular}{lB{\itshape}ll}
PFT  & Scientific Name    & Common Name       \
PFT1 &                    &                   \
     & Elymus repens      & quackgrass        \
     & Koeleria macrantha & prairie Junegrass \
     & Elymus canadensis  & Canada wildrye    \
\end{NiceTabular}
\end{document}

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 05 '21 at 07:11

An easy solution with tblr environment of tabularray package:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabularray}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\centering
\begin{tblr}{
  colspec = {lll},
  cell{2-Z}{2} = {font=\itshape}, % Z stands for the last
  hlines,
}
PFT  & Scientific Name    & Common Name       \
PFT1 &                    &                   \
     & Elymus repens      & quackgrass        \
     & Koeleria macrantha & prairie Junegrass \
     & Elymus canadensis  & Canada wildrye    \
\end{tblr}
\label{tab:foo}
\caption{test caption}
\end{table}
\end{document}

Can I set the format of an entire column except for the header?

4 Answers4

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