Table coloring doesn't extend all the way with makecell

Question

This issue occurs while using xcolor to alternate the table color, while also using makecell to put multiple lines in a table cell. In this specific scenario, where a larger cell is in a colored line, the coloring will stop just before the end of the table.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{makecell}

\rowcolors{2}{gray!20}{white}

\begin{document}
    \begin{tabular}{ |c|c| } 
    \rowcolor{gray!50}
    \hline
    \textbf{One} & \textbf{Two}\\
    \hline
    Text & More Text\\
    Even More & \makecell{Multiple \\ Lines}\\
    \hline
    \end{tabular}
\end{document}

I don't think makecell is a good way to make multi-line cells — , May 05 '19 at 04:57

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered May 05 '19 at 05:01

You could use \Gape.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{makecell}

\rowcolors{2}{gray!20}{white}

\begin{document}
    \begin{tabular}{ |c|c| } 
    \rowcolor{gray!50}
    \hline
    \textbf{One} & \textbf{Two}\\
    \hline
    Text & More Text\\
    Even More & \Gape[0pt][2pt]{\makecell{Multiple \\ Lines}}\\
    \hline
    \end{tabular}
\end{document}

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered May 05 '19 at 05:00

I would not use makecell to do such things.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{array}

\rowcolors{2}{gray!20}{white}
\newcolumntype{C}{>{\centering\let\newline\\\arraybackslash\hspace{0pt}}m{2cm}}
% https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/12712/156344
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{|C|C|} 
    \rowcolor{gray!50}
    \hline
    \textbf{One} & \textbf{Two}\\
    \hline
    Text & More Text\\
    Even More & Multiple Lines\\
    \hline
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 08 '23 at 13:38

For completeness. The (relative new) package tabularray has own macro for break text in cells into multiline text:

{first line\\ second line}

Using it at any column width, the row coloring works fine. Also the code is shorter. So, the OP table (extended with two more rows) can be written as:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{tabularray}
\UseTblrLibrary{booktabs}
\begin{document}
    \begin{center}
\begin{tblr}{colspec = {Q[c,m] Q[c,m]},
             row{1} = {font=\bfseries, bg=gray!50},
             row{odd[2]} = {bg=gray!25}
             }
    \toprule
\SetRow{}
One         &   Two                 \
    \midrule
Text        &   More Text           \
Even More   & {Multiple\ Lines}    \
Text        &   More Text           \
Even More   & {Multiple\ Lines}    \
    \bottomrule
\end{tblr} 
    \end{center}
\end{document}

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 08 '23 at 12:10

The environment {NiceTabular} of nicematrix has a built-in command \rowcolors (which must be used in the so-called \CodeBefore).

With that command, you have directly the expected output.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{makecell}
\usepackage{nicematrix}
\begin{document}
\begin{NiceTabular}{ |c|c| } 
\CodeBefore
  \rowcolor{gray!50}{1}
  \rowcolors{2}{gray!20}{}
\Body
  \hline
  \textbf{One} & \textbf{Two}\
  \hline
  Text & More Text\
  Even More & \makecell{Multiple \ Lines}\
  \hline
\end{NiceTabular}
\end{document}

You need several compilations (because nicematrix uses PGF/Tikz nodes under the hood).

However, nicematrix has also a built-in command \Block which may be used here instead of makecell.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{nicematrix}
\begin{document}
\begin{NiceTabular}{ |c|c| } 
\CodeBefore
  \rowcolor{gray!50}{1}
  \rowcolors{2}{gray!20}{}
\Body
  \hline
  \textbf{One} & \textbf{Two}\
  \hline
  Text & More Text\
  Even More & \Block{}{Multiple \ Lines}\
  \hline
\end{NiceTabular}
\end{document}

The output is the same.

Table coloring doesn't extend all the way with makecell

4 Answers4

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