How to execute command on every table column

Question

I have a table where I have to execute the same command for every entry in the table. For example:

\ibibleverse{Matthew}(1:1) & \ibibleverse{Mark}(1:1) & \ibibleverse{Luke}(1:1) \\
\ibibleverse{Matthew}(1:2) & \ibibleverse{Mark}(1:2) & \ibibleverse{Luke}(1:2) \\
\ibibleverse{Matthew}(1:3) & \ibibleverse{Mark}(1:3) & \ibibleverse{Luke}(1:3) \\

etc.

Is there a way that I can make every entry in the column automatically execute the \ibibleverse command so that my table syntax can look like this instead:

1:1 & 1:1 & 1:1 \\
1:2 & 1:2 & 1:2 \\
1:3 & 1:3 & 1:3 \\

The parentheses are part of the \ibibleverse command. The full command looks like \ibibleverse{Matthew}(1:1) and outputs "Matthew 1:1".

Of course, the header of the table should not have the \ibibleverse command.

Does this even make sense? Is it possible without repeating, by hand, \ibibleverse so many times?

Answer 1

You can use the collcell package to collect the cell of each row and apply the appropriate macro to the column. Below I defined the columns type W to apply to apply \ibibleverse{Matthew}{#1} macro, K column type to apply \ibibleverse{Mark}{#1}, and the E column type to apply \ibibleverse{Luke}{#1} (column names based on the last characters of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

Code:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{collcell}

\newcommand{\ibibleverse}[2]{#1-#2}%

\newcommand{\Matthew}[1]{\ibibleverse{Matthew}{#1}}%
\newcommand{\Mark}[1]{\ibibleverse{Mark}{#1}}%
\newcommand{\Luke}[1]{\ibibleverse{Luke}{#1}}%

\newcommand{\MyCommand}[1]{\textcolor{red}{#1}}

\newcolumntype{W}{>{\collectcell\Matthew}{l}<{\endcollectcell}}
\newcolumntype{K}{>{\collectcell\Mark}{l}<{\endcollectcell}}
\newcolumntype{E}{>{\collectcell\Luke}{l}<{\endcollectcell}}

\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{W  K  E}
1:1 & 1:1 & 1:1 \\
1:2 & 1:2 & 1:2 \\
1:3 & 1:3 & 1:3 \\
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

---

If you want to exclude header tows you can use the solution from Tables header row's: how to ignore the column type? to only apply these macros in you are not in a header row.

Code:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{collcell}
\usepackage{xcolor}%
\usepackage{etoolbox}

\newtoggle{inTableHeader}% Track if still in header of table
\toggletrue{inTableHeader}% Set initial value
\newcommand*{\StartTableHeader}{\global\toggletrue{inTableHeader}}%
\newcommand*{\EndTableHeader}{\global\togglefalse{inTableHeader}}%

% Redefine tabular to initialize \StartTableHeader at start and end
\let\OldTabular\tabular%
\let\OldEndTabular\endtabular%
\renewenvironment{tabular}{\StartTableHeader\OldTabular}{\OldEndTabular\StartTableHeader}%

\newcommand{\ibibleverse}[2]{#1-#2}%

\newcommand{\Matthew}[1]{\iftoggle{inTableHeader}{\textcolor{red}{#1}}{\ibibleverse{Matthew}{#1}}}%
\newcommand{\Mark}[1]{\iftoggle{inTableHeader}{\textcolor{blue}{#1}}{\ibibleverse{Mark}{#1}}}%
\newcommand{\Luke}[1]{\iftoggle{inTableHeader}{\textcolor{brown}{#1}}{\ibibleverse{Luke}{#1}}}%

\newcommand{\MyCommand}[1]{\textcolor{red}{#1}}

\newcolumntype{W}{>{\collectcell\Matthew}{c}<{\endcollectcell}}
\newcolumntype{K}{>{\collectcell\Mark}{c}<{\endcollectcell}}
\newcolumntype{E}{>{\collectcell\Luke}{c}<{\endcollectcell}}

\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{W  K  E}
Mathew & Mark & Luke \EndTableHeader\\
1:1 & 1:1 & 1:1 \\
1:2 & 1:2 & 1:2 \\
1:3 & 1:3 & 1:3 \\
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

Answer 2

You could also use the array package

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array}
\newcommand{\ibibleverse}[1]{#1}
\newcolumntype{B}[1]{>{\ibibleverse{#1} (}c<{)}}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}
    \centering
        \begin{tabular}{B{Matthew}B{Mark}B{Luke}}
            1.1     &   1.1   &   1.1\\
            1.2     &   1.2   &   1.2\\
            1.3     &   1.3   &   1.3
        \end{tabular}
\end{table}
\end{document}

Answer 3

Since there's no formatting required for the contents of the tabular, I would just box it and then pass it to \ibibleverse:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array}% http://ctan.org/pkg/array
\usepackage{booktabs}% http://ctan.org/pkg/booktabs

\def\ibibleverse#1(#2){#1\ #2}%

\newsavebox{\mybox}
\newcolumntype{V}[1]{>{\begin{lrbox}{\mybox}}l<{\end{lrbox}\ibibleverse{#1}(\usebox{\mybox})}}

\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{V{Matthew} V{Mark} V{Luke}}
  \toprule
  \multicolumn{1}{c}{Matthew} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Mark} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Luke} \\
  \midrule
  1:1 & 1:1 & 1:1 \\
  1:2 & 1:2 & 1:2 \\
  1:3 & 1:3 & 1:3 \\
  \bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

The V{<book>} column type is defined using array's \newcolumntype, allowing for a generic column type where you can specify the Biblical <book>. Also, for the sake of presentation, booktabs provided the rules. \multicolumn removes the header from being formatted like the table entries.