Align center-align text in two columns under multicolumn

Question

my table right now looks like this:

I want to center-align the text in the first two columns like how it is done with the other columns (sorry for the quick and dirty photoshop job):

I noticed that when I add vertical divider after the first and second column that the second column is much wider than the first column. To me that seems weird because the text in the columns is the same and also the Alignment.

My LaTex:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{makecell}

\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.2}
\centering
\begin{tabular}{@{}ccccccc@{}}
\toprule
 \multicolumn{2}{r}{Long Word} & \phantom{a} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{Another Word} \\\cmidrule{1-2}\cmidrule{4-7}
\makecell[c]{\\a} & \makecell[c]{\\a} & & \makecell[c]{word\\a} & \makecell[c]{word\\a} & \makecell[c]{word\\a}  & \makecell[c]{word\\ a} \\
\midrule
a & a & & a & a & a & a \\
a & a & & a & a & a & a \\
a & a & & a & a & a & a \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\end{document}

Why aren't the two cells under "Long Word" together as wide as the "Long Word" cell? How can I achieve this?

Thanks for help!

Why you use \begin{tabular}{@{}ccccccc@{}} instead \begin{tabular}{ccccccc}? Is this critical for you? — sergiokapone, Jan 28 '18 at 18:35
Please see also Why the H option shouldn't be used for floats. — TeXnician, Jan 28 '18 at 18:41
Btw: You could help us help you by making your example compilable, i.e. add the documentclass and required packages. Furthermore you may delete some parts which are not needed to reproduce the problem (like \hdashline). — TeXnician, Jan 28 '18 at 18:42
@DropArt: I don't really understand the problem. Is it because Long Word in the first row doesn't look centred w.r.t. the first two columns? Or do you want the cells contents to be vertically centred in their row? — Bernard, Jan 28 '18 at 19:04
@Bernard I should look like the second image. The column type is cso the two columns under "Long Word" should together be as wide as "Long Word" and the text in the columns should be centered. — DropArt, Jan 28 '18 at 19:09

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 28 '18 at 18:52

1

\documentclass[french]{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{makecell, array, booktabs, arydshln}
\usepackage[a4paper]{geometry}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\begin{document}

\begin{table}
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.2}
\centering
\begin{tabular}{@{}ccccccc@{}}
\toprule
 \multicolumn{2}{c}{Long Word} & {\phantom{a}} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{Another Word} \\\cmidrule{1-2}\cmidrule{4-7}
\makecell[c]{\phantom{word}\\a} & \makecell[c]{\phantom{word}\\a} & & \makecell[c]{word\\a} & \makecell[c]{word\\a} & \makecell[c]{word\\a}  & \makecell[c]{word\\ a} \\
\midrule
a & a & & a & a & a & a \\\hdashline
a & a & & a & a & a & a \\\hdashline
a & a & & a & a & a & a \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\end{document}

answered Jan 28 '18 at 18:52

sergiokapone

5,578
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+1, but you should probably explain that the column's width was not sufficient and that you adjusted it. – TeXnician Jan 28 '18 at 18:57
It works, but only if the length of \phantom{word} and \phantom{word} is as long or longer than "Long Word". I think there is a better/cleaner solution to this. This seems more like a hack. – DropArt Jan 28 '18 at 19:06
@DropArt if you use \begin{tabular}{ccccccc} the result result will look better – sergiokapone Jan 28 '18 at 19:08
@sergiokapone Yeah it may look better in your opinion but that doesn't change that the two cells under "Long Word" together aren't as wide as the "Long Word" cell and the text in the cells isn't centered. – DropArt Jan 28 '18 at 19:12

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 28 '18 at 20:56

I propose some improvements and simplifications. First I use only 6 columns, increasing the horizontal spacing between columns 2 and 3 and playing with the l and r keys of \cmidrule. Also, you don't need tu use the [c] option of \makecell, as it is the default (both vertically and horizontally). Last, I removed the modification of ``\arraystretch, since the rules frombooktabshave some vertical paddind, and I think replacing the dashed lines ofarydshlnwith\addlinespace` loks nicer.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{array, booktabs, makecell}
\usepackage{calc} 

\begin{document}

 \begin{table}
\centering
 %\newlength\LWwidth
\settowidth{\LWwidth}{LongWord}
\begin{tabular}{@{}rc!{\hspace*{1pc}}*{4}{c}@{}}
\toprule
 \multicolumn{2}{l}{ Long Word } & \multicolumn{4}{c}{Another Word} \\\cmidrule(r{0.9pc}){1-2}\cmidrule(l{0.5pc}){3-6}
\makecell[r]{\hspace*{0.5\LWwidth}\\a} & \makecell {\hspace*{0.5\LWwidth}\\a} & \makecell {word\\a} & \makecell {word\\a} & \makecell {word\\a} & \makecell {word\\ a} \\
\midrule
a & a & a & a & a & a \\
\addlinespace
a & a & a & a & a & a \\
\addlinespace
a & a & a & a & a & a \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\end{document}

Align center-align text in two columns under multicolumn

2 Answers2