Using longtable and makecell, how can I get different alignments for different columns?

Question

I have a two-page (long)table, on landscape orientation. I would like the first column to be centered-centered, but the remaining columns to be top-left (using makecell).

I would like each row to look like this:

Here is my code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{array} 
\usepackage{makecell}
\usepackage{geometry} 
\usepackage{pdflscape}
\usepackage{longtable}
\usepackage{setspace}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{calc}
\newlength{\lw}
\setlength{\lw}{2\tabcolsep+\arrayrulewidth}
\newcolumntype{R}[1]{>{\raggedright\arraybackslash}m{#1}}
\newcolumntype{M}[1]{>{\raggedright\arraybackslash}m{#1}}
\newcommand\tab{\hspace{10mm}}
\begin{document}
\newgeometry{margin=1in}
\begin{landscape}
\singlespacing
\begin{longtable}{|M{1.4in-\lw}|R{2.55in-\lw}|R{2.3in-\lw}|R{2.7in-\lw}|}
Test Header & Test Header & Test Header & Test Header \
\hline
Long First Row Name
& \makecell[tl]{Item 1 \
    \tab Value 1 \
    Item 2 \
    \tab Value 2 \
    Item 3 \
    \tab Value 3 \
    Item 4 with a very long name that \ needs two lines \
    \tab Value 4}
& \makecell[tl]{Item 5 \
    \tab Value 5 \
    Item 6 \
    \tab Value 6}
& \makecell[tl]{Item 7 \
    \tab Value 7 \
    Item 8 \
    \tab Value 8}
\hline
\end{longtable}
\doublespacing
\end{landscape}
\restoregeometry
\end{document}

Here is what it gets me:

What can I do to get my code to match the first table shown?

Zarko · Answer 1 · 2022-02-15T07:08:37.563

Using tabularray package enable relative simple table code without use of makecell packages.
From example of table is not evident, why your table should be in landscape orientation.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{pdflscape}
\usepackage{lipsum}% For dummy text. Don't use in a real document
\usepackage{tabularray}
\newcommand\tab{\par\hspace{2em}}
\usepackage{setspace}
\doublespacing
\begin{document}
\newgeometry{margin=1in}
    \begin{landscape}
\singlespacing
    \begin{longtblr}[
caption={longtable},
  label={tab:x} 
                    ]{%
        rowhead=1,
        hlines, vlines,
        colspec={X[0.7,c,m] 
                 *{3}{X[1.1,l,h]}},
        row{1} ={font=\bfseries}
                    }
Test Header 
    & Test Header 
        & Test Header

            & Test Header           \
Very, Very Long First Row Name
    &   Item 1
        \tab    Value 1\par 
        Item 2 
        \tab    Value 2\par 
        Item 3
        \tab    Value 2\par
        Item 4 with a very long name that needs two lines
        \tab    Value 4
        &   Item 5
            \tab    Value 5\par
            Item 6
            \tab    Value 6 
            &   Item 7
                \tab    Value 7\par 
                Item 8
                \tab    Value 8     \

%
\end{longtblr}
    \end{landscape}
\end{document}

In table code you may replace all \par commands with empty lines, i.e. write the first two columns as:

% ...
Very, Very Long First Row Name
    &   Item 1
        \tab    Value 1
    Item 2 
    \tab    Value 2

    Item 3
    \tab    Value 2

    Item 4 with a very long name that needs two lines
    \tab    Value 4
    &amp;   Item 5

% rest of table code

In both cases the result of compilations are the same:

Thank you! Yes, this could work. Is there a way I can specify the caption formatting? I need it to match the rest of my thesis. — Genevieve, Feb 15 '22 at 14:51
@Genevieve, my suggestion works for sure ... Regarding caption style: yes, it can be customized. For example, see https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/628900/ — Zarko, Feb 15 '22 at 14:59
I was able to format the caption using the built-in \SetTblrStyle commands for tabularray. However, I cannot figure out how to remove the hanging indent for the table caption on continued pages. Any advice? — Genevieve, Feb 15 '22 at 15:40
@Genevieve, hm, this deserve new question. On such more people will be able to see your problem and consequently able to help you. I Thing, that your basic question is solved (and can be accepted) — Zarko, Feb 15 '22 at 15:43

Using longtable and makecell, how can I get different alignments for different columns?

1 Answers1