How to use vfil inside tabularx

Question

The \vfils in the following mwe seem to have no effect:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{XX}
\lipsum[1] & a \vfil b \vfil c\
\end{tabularx}
\end{document}

Is there a way to make this work? What I want is very similar to How to use the equivalent of a vfill in a tabular environment? except I don't know a priori what the height of column 1 will be (but it will always be at least the height of the column 2 without the \vfil). I suppose I could store the height of column 1 in a macro but is that the best way to do this? Solutions avoiding tabular(x) are also welcome.

Do you have multiple rows or is it just two side-to-side boxes? — egreg, Aug 23 '21 at 19:55

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 23 '21 at 20:19

You need to measure the left box.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\newsavebox{\doubleleftbox}
\newenvironment{doublebox}
 {%
  \begin{flushleft}
  \begin{lrbox}{\doubleleftbox}
  \begin{minipage}[b]{\dimexpr0.5\columnwidth-\tabcolsep}\strut\ignorespaces
 }
 {\unskip\strut\end{minipage}\end{flushleft}}
\newcommand{\changeside}{%
  \unskip\strut\end{minipage}
  \end{lrbox}
  \usebox{\doubleleftbox}\hfill
  \begin{minipage}[b][\ht\doubleleftbox][s]{\dimexpr0.5\columnwidth-\tabcolsep}
  \strut\ignorespaces
}
\begin{document}
\lipsum[3][1-3]
\begin{doublebox}
\lipsum[1]
\changeside
\lipsum[2][1-2]\vfil \lipsum[2][3-4]\vfil \lipsum[2][5-6]
\end{doublebox}
\lipsum[4][1-3]
\end{document}

How to use vfil inside tabularx

1 Answers1