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I'm trying to use a tabular with \underbraces under some of the columns. I don't seem to have figured out the right dimensions of the column widths and/or the braces -- I naively thought that using \multicol might simplify the problem. I'd like the columns to center on the braces (or vice versa). Any suggestions gratefully received... (MacTeX 2017)

\documentclass{article} \usepackage[showframe]{geometry} \usepackage{calc} \usepackage{xparse} \usepackage{array} \newlength{\entrywd} \newlength{\entrybracewd} \setlength{\tabcolsep}{6pt} \newenvironment{testtable}[2][\textwidth]{% \setlength{\entrywd}{#1/#2-2\tabcolsep} \setlength{\entrybracewd}{#1/#2-\tabcolsep} \begingroup \centering \tabular{*{#2}{p{\entrywd}}} }{% \endtabular \par \endgroup } \newcommand{\mkbrace}[1]{% \entryi[#1]{\raisebox{0.5\baselineskip}{$\underbrace{\hbox to #1\entrybracewd{\hfill}}$}}% } %% Used this because an optional argument of \newcommand does not work with \multicolumn: %% https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/257902/defining-multicolum-by-macro-with-optional-argument/257904#257904 %% https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/17133/custom-macro-for-multicolumn-with-without-xparse \NewExpandableDocumentCommand{\entry}{ O{1} m }{% \multicolumn{#1}{>{\centering}p{#1\entrywd}}{#2}% } \NewExpandableDocumentCommand{\entryi}{ O{1} m }{% \multicolumn{#1}{>{\centering}p{#1\entrybracewd}}{#2}% } \parindent0pt \begin{document} \begin{testtable}{7} \entry[2]{one and some more of this sort}&\entry{bla bla bla and more}&\entry{this goes on and on and more}&\entry{bunch of really boring stuff}&\entry{I wish I could figure out}&\entry{so that I could move on with this nonsense}\\ \mkbrace{2}&\mkbrace{2}&\mkbrace{3}\\ \end{testtable} \begin{testtable}{5} \entry[2]{one and some more of this sort}&\entry{bla bla bla and more}&\entry{this goes on and on and more}&\entry{bunch of really boring stuff}\\ \mkbrace{2}&\mkbrace{2}&\mkbrace{1}\\ \end{testtable} \begin{testtable}[0.5\textwidth]{4} \entry[2]{one and some more of this sort}&\entry{bla bla bla and more}&\entry{this goes on and on and more}\\[-\baselineskip] \mkbrace{2}&\mkbrace{2}\\ \end{testtable} \end{document}

example of tabular with underbrace

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  • Just for testing purposes, this is a case where vertical rulers | might be useful. Commented Dec 28, 2017 at 22:45
  • Remark, there are some notes about the line spacing in tex.stackexchange.com/questions/662971/… Commented Oct 25, 2022 at 16:59

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You don't need to measure the widths, just use a bracefill to fill whatever columns you want to span

enter image description here

\documentclass{article} \usepackage[showframe]{geometry} \usepackage{calc} \usepackage{xparse} \usepackage{array} \newlength{\entrywd} \newlength{\entrybracewd} \setlength{\tabcolsep}{6pt} \newenvironment{testtable}[2][\textwidth]{% \setlength{\entrywd}{#1/#2-2\tabcolsep} \setlength{\entrybracewd}{#1/#2-\tabcolsep} \begingroup \centering \tabular{*{#2}{p{\entrywd}}} }{% \endtabular \par \endgroup } \newcommand{\mkbrace}[1]{% \multicolumn{#1}{c}{\mbox{}\upbracefill\mbox{}}% } \NewExpandableDocumentCommand{\entry}{ O{1} m }{% \multicolumn{#1}{>{\centering}p{#1\entrywd}}{#2}% } \NewExpandableDocumentCommand{\entryi}{ O{1} m }{% \multicolumn{#1}{>{\centering}p{#1\entrybracewd}}{#2}% } \parindent0pt \begin{document} \begin{testtable}{7} \entry[2]{one and some more of this sort}&\entry{bla bla bla and more}&\entry{this goes on and on and more}&\entry{bunch of really boring stuff}&\entry{I wish I could figure out}&\entry{so that I could move on with this nonsense}\\ \mkbrace{2}&\mkbrace{2}&\mkbrace{3}\\ \end{testtable} \begin{testtable}{5} \entry[2]{one and some more of this sort}&\entry{bla bla bla and more}&\entry{this goes on and on and more}&\entry{bunch of really boring stuff}\\ \mkbrace{2}&\mkbrace{2}&\mkbrace{1}\\ \end{testtable} \begin{testtable}[0.5\textwidth]{4} \entry[2]{one and some more of this sort}&\entry{bla bla bla and more}&\entry{this goes on and on and more}\\[-\baselineskip] \mkbrace{2}&\mkbrace{2}\\ \end{testtable} \end{document}
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The following uses tabularx to figure out the column widths rather than measuring them, and \upbracefill to insert the brace according to the appropriate X-column span:

enter image description here

\documentclass{article} \usepackage[showframe]{geometry} \usepackage{xparse,tabularx} \setlength{\tabcolsep}{6pt} \newenvironment{testtable}[2][\textwidth]{% \centering \tabularx{#1}{ *{#2}{X} } }{% \endtabularx \par } \newcommand{\mkbrace}[1]{\multicolumn{#1}{c}{\upbracefill}} \NewExpandableDocumentCommand{\entry}{ O{1} m }{% \multicolumn{#1}{>{\hsize=#1\hsize\centering}X}{#2}% } \setlength{\parindent}{0pt} \begin{document} \begin{testtable}{7} \entry[2]{one and some more of this sort} & \entry{bla bla bla and more} & \entry{this goes on and on and more} & \entry{bunch of really boring stuff} & \entry{I wish I could figure out} & \entry{so that I could move on with this nonsense} \\ \mkbrace{2} & \mkbrace{2} & \mkbrace{3} \end{testtable} \begin{testtable}{5} \entry[2]{one and some more of this sort} & \entry{bla bla bla and more} & \entry{this goes on and on and more} & \entry{bunch of really boring stuff} \\ \mkbrace{2} & \mkbrace{2} & \mkbrace{1} \end{testtable} \begin{testtable}[0.5\textwidth]{4} \entry[2]{one and some more of this sort} & \entry{bla bla bla and more} & \entry{this goes on and on and more} \\ \mkbrace{2} & \mkbrace{2} \end{testtable} \end{document}
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