<!-- 
.. title: Uber tables
.. slug: uber-tables
.. date: 2009-07-04 18:52:02 UTC+01:00 
.. tags: latex, 
.. link: 
.. description: 
.. type: text 
--> 

It's really interesting: most of the questions I'm being asked about LaTeX nowadays center around tables. Figures are still a topic, but tables remain the big great mysterium. 😄

I've briefly described tables in my old and outdated [LaTeX crash-course](http://pdes-net.org/texts/latex_schnellkurs_v7.pdf):

	\begin{verbatim}
	\begin{table}[t!]
	\begin{center}
	\caption{Eine sehr einfache Tabelle.}
	\begin{tabular}{lcc}\\
	\hline
	Bit & A & B\\
	\hline
	on  & 1 & 0\\
	off & 0 & 1\\
	\hline
	\end{tabular}
	\label{Tab1}
	\end{center}
	\end{table}
	\end{verbatim}

![;)](../images/ganz_kleine_tabelle_scaled.png)

	\begin{table}[b!]
	\begin{center}
	\caption{Eine einfache Tabelle. Man beachte die vielen hübschen Zahlen.}
	\begin{tabular}{cccccc}\\
	\hline
	& \multicolumn{2}{c}{(11$\overline{2}$4) FWHM (deg)}
	& \multicolumn{3}{c}{$\alpha$ (deg)} \\
	\hline
	&	$o \cdot \kappa = 0$	&
	       $o \cdot \kappa \neq 0$	&	XRD	&	TEM	 & GIXD\\
	\hline
	\#A	&	0.072    &0.24   &		0.36	&	---     &---\\
	\#B	&	0.047	 &0.367  &      0.6		&	---     &---\\
	\#C	&	---	 	&0.344   &      0.56	&	0.63    &---\\
	\#D	&   ---      &0.109  &      0.16	&	0.15	&---\\
	\#E &   ---      &0.249  &      0.38    &   ---     &0.31\\
	\#F &   ---      &0.37   &      0.57        ---     &0.55\\
	\hline
	\end{tabular}
	\label{tab:Tab2}
	\end{center}
	\end{table}

![;)](../images/kleine_tabelle_scaled.png)

But what did I say about bigger tables?

![;)](../images/old_comment_scaled.png)

Well, it's really not that bad. What I found amusing is the name I found in the net for these multidimensional monstrosities: [uber-huge tables](http://www.astro.psu.edu/gradinfo/psuthesis/longtable.html). Let's see how they work:

	\begin{landscape}		%if your table is too wide - use begin{center} otherwise
	% (requires \usepackage{pdflscape})
	\scriptsize 			%if nothing else helps
	\begin{longtable}{llllllll}	%if your table spans several pages
	% (requires \usepackage{longtable})

	\caption[Monstertable]{An uber-huge table.}
	\label{MT1} \\

	%This is the header for the first page of the table...
	\hline \hline \\
	   \multicolumn{1}{c}{Sample} &
	   \multicolumn{1}{c}{Gna} &
	   \multicolumn{1}{c}{Gnu} &
	   \multicolumn{1}{c}{Gne} &
	   \multicolumn{1}{c}{Gno} &
	   \multicolumn{1}{c}{Gnä} &
	   \multicolumn{1}{c}{Gnö} &
	   \multicolumn{1}{c}{Gnü} \\
	   \hline
	\\
	\endfirsthead

	%This is the header for the remaining page(s) of the table...
	\multicolumn{8}{c}{{\tablename} \thetable{} -- Continued} \\[0.5ex]
	\hline \hline \\
	   \multicolumn{1}{c}{Sample} &
	   \multicolumn{1}{c}{Gna} &
	   \multicolumn{1}{c}{Gnu} &
	   \multicolumn{1}{c}{Gne} &
	   \multicolumn{1}{c}{Gno} &
	   \multicolumn{1}{c}{Gnä} &
	   \multicolumn{1}{c}{Gnö} &
	   \multicolumn{1}{c}{Gnü} \\
	   \hline
	\\
	\endhead

	%This is the footer for all pages except the last page of the table...
	  \multicolumn{8}{l}{{Continued on next page\ldots}} \\
	\endfoot

	%This is the footer for the last page of the table...
	  \\
	  \hline \hline
	\endlastfoot

	%Now the data...

	%Please copy this line a hundred thousand times ...
	0 & (1, 11, 13725) & (1, 12, 10980), (1, 13, 8235), (3, 1, 0) & 0 &
	(1, 11, 13725) & (1, 12, 10980), (1, 13, 8235), (2, 2, 0), & 0 & (1, 11, 13725)\\

	\end{longtable}
	\end{landscape}

Now, look at this little beauty:

[![uber table, page1](../images/uber-huge_page1_scaled.png)](../images/uber-huge_page1.png)

... and finally, 3546 pages down:

[![uber table, last page](../images/uber-huge_page3546_scaled.png)](../images/uber-huge_page3546.png)

