3

Unfortunately, it keeps bugging me with forgotten \endgroup, float(s) lost, not in outer par mode and so on.

In other words, why can't I do something like this (the actual table is significantly more complex with rules and stuff):

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{blindtext}
\usepackage{tabularx}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}
  \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{X}
    \begin{table}
      \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{X}
        \blindtext
      \end{tabularx}
      \caption{Inner table}
    \end{table}
  \end{tabularx}
  \caption{Outer table}
\end{table}

\end{document}
Egor Tensin
  • 773
  • I would also love to have a tabularx inside the inner table. – Egor Tensin Dec 17 '12 at 04:03
  • How should the inner table be enumerated (in relation to the outer one)? – Qrrbrbirlbel Dec 17 '12 at 04:12
  • Hmm, a good question. I guess I'd like to go with no enumeration for the inner table. I'd be extremely grateful for any other option though, as I'm really tired of trying to accomplish this. – Egor Tensin Dec 17 '12 at 04:15
  • @EgorTensin Don’t use the inner table environment (how should floating work inside a tabularx anyway?) and drop the inner \caption (no enumeration) command. – Qrrbrbirlbel Dec 17 '12 at 04:17
  • @Qrrbrbirlbel, but I would like to have a caption, It's just the number that's useless. Or maybe you're suggesting just centering a paragraph as a caption? – Egor Tensin Dec 17 '12 at 04:19

1 Answers1

5

There are two problems here:

  1. Nested table environments: Not in outer par mode

    I suggest dropping the inner table environment. (How should the concept of floating be applicable inside a tabular where the contents are fixed, anyway?)

  2. Nested tabularx environments:

    • Extra }, or forgotten \endgroup,
    • Missing \endgroup inserted and
    • Missing } inserted

    The solution is to enclose the inner tabularx by a pair of braces.
    The the tabularx manual states:

    tabular and tabular* environments may be nested with no restriction, however if one tabularx environment occurs inside another, then the inner one must be enclosed by { }.

Now the inner caption does work without problems and results in a enumerated caption:

Table 1: Inner table

If this is not preferred, one can use the starred version of \caption* for the inner caption from the caption package.

I also replaced \textwidth with \linewidth so that inner tabularx uses the correct remaining horizontal space (→ Difference between \textwidth, \linewidth and \hsize)

Further improvements  could be

  • enclosing the inner tabularx and its caption inside the center environment or
  • providing more vertical space before the inner tabularx, i.e. \\[2ex].

Code

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{blindtext}
\usepackage{tabularx}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}
  \begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{X}
     \blindtext \\
      {\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{X}
        \blindtext
      \end{tabularx}}
      \caption{Inner table}
     \\
     \blindtext
  \end{tabularx}
  \caption{Outer table}
\end{table}

\end{document}

Output

enter image description here

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Qrrbrbirlbel
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