%format latex or latex2e \ifx\documentclass\undefined \documentstyle[11pt,supertabular]{article} \else \documentclass[11pt]{article} \usepackage{supertabular} \fi % 4-FEB-91 JLB Adapted this file to the additions made to the % style file. % 3-JUN-91 RmS Changed into a proper LaTeX input file \setlength{\topmargin}{0cm} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{0cm} \setlength{\textheight}{23cm} \setlength{\textwidth}{15cm} \newcommand{\tbsp}{\rule{0pt}{18pt}} % I use \tbsp to get a vertical distance after \hline \begin{document} \section{The Supertabular} Here is the description of a new style file called \verb|supertab|. This new style offers a new environment, the \verb|supertabular| environment. As the name says it is an extension of the normal \verb|tabular| environment. With the original \verb|tabular| environment a tabular must always fit on {\it one} page. If the tabular becomes too large the text overwrites the page's bottom margin and you get an \verb|Overfull vbox| message. The \verb|supertabular| environment uses the \verb|tabular| environment internally, but it evaluates the used space every time it gets a \verb|\\| command. If the tabular reaches the textheight, it automatically inserts an \verb|\end{tabular}| command, starts a new page and inserts the tablehead on the new page continuing the tabular. New commands to use with \verb|supertabular| are: \begin{center} \begin{tabular}{l p{8cm}} \verb|\tablefirsthead{...}| & defines the contents of the first occurence of the tabular head. The use of this command is optional. Don't forget to close the head by a \verb|\\| or \verb|\newline|. \\ \verb|\tablehead{...}| & defines the contents of all subsequent ocurrences of the tabular head. Don't forget to close the head by a \verb|\\| or \verb|\newline|. \\ \verb|\tabletail{...}| & defines something which should be inserted before each \verb|\end{tabular}|, except the last.\\ \verb|\tablelasttail{...}| & defines something which should be inserted before the last \verb|\end{tabular}|. The use of this command is optional.\\ \verb|\topcaption{...}| &\\ \verb|\bottomcaption{...}| &\\ \verb|\tablecaption{...}| & Provide a caption for the super-table, either at the top or at the bottom of the table. When \verb|\tablecaption| is used the caption will be placed at the default location, which is at the top.\\ \end{tabular} \end{center} Note that you define new lines inside the supertabular as normal by \verb|\\| or \verb|\\[...pt]|. All column definition commands can be used, including \verb|@{...}| and \verb|p{...}|. You can {\it not} use the optional positioning argument and the width argument which are possible with the \verb|\begin{tabular}| command. Here is an example of a supertabular. You will find the definitions at the end of the supertabular. \begin{center} \tablefirsthead{\hline \multicolumn{1}{|c}{\tbsp Number} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Number$^2$} & Number$^4$ & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{Number!} \\ \hline\tbsp } \tablehead{\hline \multicolumn{4}{|l|}{\small\sl continued from previous page}\\ \hline \multicolumn{1}{|c}{\tbsp Number} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Number$^2$} & Number$^4$ & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{Number!} \\ \hline\tbsp } \tabletail{\hline\multicolumn{4}{|r|}{\small\sl continued on next page}\\\hline} \tablelasttail{\hline} \bottomcaption{This table is split across pages} \par \begin{supertabular}{| r@{\hspace{6.5mm}}| r@{\hspace{5.5mm}}| r | r|} 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 \\ 2 & 4 & 16 & 2 \\ 3 & 9 & 81 & 6 \\ 4 & 16 & 256 & 24 \\[5mm] 5 & 25 & 625 & 120 \\ 6 & 36 & 1296 & 720 \\ 7 & 49 & 2401 & 5040 \\ 8 & 64 & 4096 & 40320 \\ 9 & 81 & 6561 & 362880 \\ 10 & 100 & 10000 & 3628800 \\ 11 & 121 & 14641 & 39916800 \\ 12 & 144 & 20736 & 479001600 \\[.5cm] \hline & & & \\ 13 & 169 & 28561 & 6.22702080E+9 \\[1cm] 14 & 196 & 38416 & 8.71782912E+10\\ 15 & 225 & 50625 & 1.30767437E+12\\ 16 & 256 & 65536 & 2.09227899E+13\\ 17 & 289 & 83521 & 3.55687428E+14\\[5mm] 18 & 324 & 104976 & 6.40237370E+15\\ 19 & 361 & 130321 & 1.21645100E+17\\ 20 & 400 & 160000 & 2.43290200E+18\\ \end{supertabular} \end{center} And here are the definitions: \begin{verbatim} \newcommand{\tbsp}{\rule{0pt}{18pt}} % I use \tbsp to get a vertical distance after \hline \tablefirsthead{\hline \multicolumn{1}{|c}{\tbsp Number} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Number$^2$} & Number$^4$ & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{Number!} \\ \hline\tbsp } \tablehead{\hline \multicolumn{4}{|l|}% {\small\sl continued from previous page}\\ \hline \multicolumn{1}{|c}{\tbsp Number} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Number$^2$} & Number$^4$ & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{Number!} \\ \hline\tbsp } \tabletail{\hline\multicolumn{4}{|r|}% {\small\sl continued on next page}\\\hline} \tablelasttail{\hline} \bottomcaption{This table is split across pages} \begin{supertabular}{| r@{\hspace{6.5mm}}| r@{\hspace{5.5mm}}| r | r|} 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 \\ 2 & 4 & 16 & 2 \\ 3 & 9 & 81 & 6 \\ 4 & 16 & 256 & 24 \\[5mm] ... 19 & 361 & 130321 & 1.21645100E+17\\ 20 & 400 & 160000 & 2.43290200E+18\\ \end{supertabular} \end{verbatim} Here is another example whith a {\tt p} column-definition. The tablehead is the same as above. The tabletail is a double \verb|\hline| \verb|\arraystretch| is set to {\tt 1.5} and font size is \verb|\small|. \begin{center} \tablelasttail{\hline\hline} \topcaption{This table should also be split accross pages.} \renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.5} \small \begin{supertabular}{| r@{\hspace{6.5mm}}| r@{\hspace{5.5mm}}| r p{5cm}|} 1 & 1 & 1 & here is a relative short entry \\ 2 & 1 & 1 & and here is a long entry, where line breaks and line breaks and line breaks have to occur \\ 3 & 1 & 1 & here is also a long entry, where also a line break should occur\\ 4 & 1 & 1 & here is also a long entry, where also a line break should occur\\ 5 & 1 & 1 & here is a relative short entry \\ 6 & 1 & 1 & here is also a long entry, where also a line break should occur\\ 7 & 1 & 1 & here is also a long entry, where also a line break should occur\\ 8 & 1 & 1 & and here is a long entry, where line breaks and line breaks and line breaks have to occur \\ 9 & 1 & 1 & and here is a long entry, where line breaks and line breaks and line breaks have to occur \\ 10 & 1 & 1 & here is also a long entry, where also a line break should occur\\ 11 & 1 & 1 & here is also a long entry, where also a line break should occur\\ 12 & 1 & 1 & here is a relative short entry \\ 13 & 1 & 1 & here is also a long entry, where also a line break should occur\\ 14 & 1 & 1 & and here is a long entry, where line breaks and line breaks and line breaks have to occur \\ 15 & 1 & 1 & and here is a long entry, where line breaks and line breaks and line breaks have to occur \\ 16 & 1 & 1 & here is also a long entry, where also a line break should occur\\ 17 & 1 & 1 & and here is a long entry, where line breaks and line breaks and line breaks have to occur \\ 18 & 1 & 1 & and here is a long entry, where line breaks and line breaks and line breaks have to occur \\ \end{supertabular} \end{center} Here is the same table again, but this time using the supertabular* environment and stretching the table to the full width of the text. \begin{center} \tablelasttail{\hline\hline} \renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.5} \small \begin{supertabular*}{\textwidth}% {| r@{\extracolsep{6.5mm plus 1fil}}| r@{\extracolsep{5.5mm plus 0.5fil}}| r@{\extracolsep{0mm plus 0.1fil}} p{5cm}|} 1 & 1 & 1 & here is a relative short entry \\ 2 & 1 & 1 & and here is a long entry, where line breaks and line breaks and line breaks have to occur \\ 3 & 1 & 1 & here is also a long entry, where also a line break should occur\\ 4 & 1 & 1 & here is also a long entry, where also a line break should occur\\ 5 & 1 & 1 & here is a relative short entry \\ 6 & 1 & 1 & here is also a long entry, where also a line break should occur\\ 7 & 1 & 1 & here is also a long entry, where also a line break should occur\\ 8 & 1 & 1 & and here is a long entry, where line breaks and line breaks and line breaks have to occur \\ 9 & 1 & 1 & and here is a long entry, where line breaks and line breaks and line breaks have to occur \\ 10 & 1 & 1 & here is also a long entry, where also a line break should occur\\ 11 & 1 & 1 & here is also a long entry, where also a line break should occur\\ 12 & 1 & 1 & here is a relative short entry \\ 13 & 1 & 1 & here is also a long entry, where also a line break should occur\\ 14 & 1 & 1 & and here is a long entry, where line breaks and line breaks and line breaks have to occur \\ 15 & 1 & 1 & and here is a long entry, where line breaks and line breaks and line breaks have to occur \\ \end{supertabular*} \end{center} \section{Known problems} \begin{itemize} \item When a float occurs on the same page as the start of a supertabular you can expect unexpected results. When the float was defined on the same page you might end up with the first part of the supertabular on a page by its own. \item You should not use the supertabular {\em inside\/} a floating-environment such as {\tt table} as this will result in \TeX\ trying to put the whole supertabular on {\em one\/} page. \item In some instances you might still end up with overfull \verb=\vbox= messages. These instances are described in the (documented version of) the style file itself. \item Sometimes the last page of the supertabular contains just an empty head an tail. \end{itemize} \end{document}