Long table additional caption indentation

Question

When the caption is too long to fit in just one line, I want something like this:

Table 1: whateverj lakjsdfñ lkjasdfl kjasñdlf j
         wastathahtaht
Table 1 (cont.): Wahtashetlkahkethjaklthjalkdthjalk
                 lkjwñtjqñjeñtqljetñljk

I have tried using:

\begin{longtable}{c|c}
  \caption{whateverj lakjsdfñ lkjasdfl kjasñdlf j wastathahtaht}
  \label{tab:my}\\
  \toprule
  a & b \\
  \midrule
  \endfirsthead
\caption*{\textbf{Table \ref{tab:mytab} (cont.):} Wahtashetlkahkethjaklthjalkdthjalk                      lkjwñtjqñjeñtqljetñljk}\
  \toprule
  a & b \
  \midrule
  \endhead
  l1 & l2 \
\end{longtable}

But instead I'm getting:

Table 1: whateverj lakjsdfñ lkjasdfl kjasñdlf j
         wastathahtaht
Table 1 (cont.): Wahtashetlkahkethjaklthjalkdthjalk
lkjwñtjqñjeñtqljetñljk

How can I indent the continuation caption as well? I'm using KOMA scrbook and longtable package.

@JohnKormylo could you give a hint? Do I have to set the caption as a multicolumn, with 2 columns and define the 1st column to include Talble x cont and the other as the real text caption? — jlanza, Jan 21 '22 at 08:16

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 21 '22 at 15:40

You can do it with \multicolumn but it is not as good as using \caption*. However, \LTcapwidth was useful.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{longtable}
\usepackage{blindtext}
\newsavebox{\mycaptionbox}
\newcommand{\myfirstcaption}[1]{\caption*{\savebox{\mycaptionbox}{Table \thetable: }%
  \usebox\mycaptionbox\parbox[t]{\dimexpr \LTcapwidth-\wd\mycaptionbox}{#1}}}
\newcommand{\mycaption}[1]{\caption*{\savebox{\mycaptionbox}{Table \thetable~(cont.): }%
  \usebox\mycaptionbox\parbox[t]{\dimexpr \LTcapwidth-\wd\mycaptionbox}{#1}}}
\begin{document}
\begin{longtable}{c|c}
  \myfirstcaption{\blindtext}
  \label{tab:my}\
  \toprule
  a & b \
  \midrule
  \endfirsthead
  \mycaption{\blindtext}\
  \toprule
  a & b \
  \midrule
  \endhead
  l1 & l2 \
  \rule{1em}{29\normalbaselineskip}% too big for first page
\end{longtable}
\end{document}

marv · Answer 2 · 2022-01-20T18:22:35.577

Here is an attempt, which uses the longtblr environment from tabularray package.

\documentclass{scrbook}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{tabularray}
\UseTblrLibrary{booktabs}
\ExplSyntaxOn
\DefTblrTemplate { capcont } { mycaption }
{
    \hbox_set:Nn \l__tblr_caption_box
    {
        \UseTblrTemplate { caption-tag } { default }
        \space
        \UseTblrTemplate { conthead-text } { default }
        \UseTblrTemplate { caption-sep } { default }
        \UseTblrTemplate { caption-text } { default }

    }
    \dim_compare:nNnTF { \box_wd:N \l__tblr_caption_box } > { \hsize }
    {
        \UseTblrAlign { capcont }
        \UseTblrIndent { capcont }
        \hbox_set:Nn \l__tblr_caption_left_box
        {
            \UseTblrTemplate { caption-tag } { default }
            \space
            \UseTblrTemplate { conthead-text } { default }
            \UseTblrTemplate { caption-sep } { default }
        }
        \hangindent = \box_wd:N \l__tblr_caption_left_box
        \hangafter = 1
        \UseTblrHang { capcont }
        \leavevmode
        \hbox_unpack:N \l__tblr_caption_box
        \par
    }
    {
        \centering
        \makebox [\hsize] [c] { \box_use:N \l__tblr_caption_box }
        \par
    }
}
\ExplSyntaxOff
\SetTblrTemplate{capcont}{mycaption}
\DefTblrTemplate{conthead-text}{default}{(cont.)}
\begin{document}
Extra page to have the correct margins for two page layout
\newpage
\noindent

\begin{longtblr}[
        caption={This is very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very long caption},
        label={tab:my}
    ]{
        colspec={X|X},
        rowhead=1,
    }
    \toprule
    a & b \
    \midrule
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    l1 & l2 \
    \bottomrule
\end{longtblr}
\end{document}

However, the width of the caption is equal to the width of the table, which could be an issue, if your table is narrow. I used X column type in my example, which uses all available space for the columns. If the width of the caption is a problem for you, you can have a look at this question. Unfortunately, I have not been able to combine both the custom alignment and the full width caption yet. Maybe someone else has an idea...

Long table additional caption indentation

2 Answers2