# Removing a few lines in a table

I have this code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{booktabs}

\begin{document}
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{c|lccc|c|}
& \multicolumn{5}{c}{\textbf{Political Party Preference}}\\\toprule
& & \textbf{Democrat} & \textbf{Republican} & \textbf{Independent} & \textbf{Total}\\\midrule
\textbf{Gender} & \textbf{Male} & 11 & 7 & 2 & 20\\
& \textbf{Female} & 7 & 8 & 1 & 16\\\midrule
& \textbf{Total}  & 18 & 15 & 3 &  36\\\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

\end{document}


which gives

But I'd like to produce the table shown at:

Any suggestions?

-
Hi David, Welcome to TeX.SE! :) I edited your post to include the images, and made your snippet into a complete MWE by adding the booktabs package. I also removed thanks and your name- the best way to thank folks is to upvote answers :) and your name appears in the bottom right of your question :) Welcome! –  cmhughes Sep 14 '12 at 18:42

I would suggest you not to use vertical rules at all (the booktabs package documentation has some arguments in favor of this recommendation); if you add vertical rules, they won't interact well with the booktabs package (as you've noticed) and trying to make the rules work will spoil the table layout:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{booktabs}

\begin{document}

\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{@{}c>{\bfseries}lcccc@{}}
\toprule
& \multicolumn{5}{c}{\textbf{Political Party Preference}} \\
& & \textbf{Democrat} & \textbf{Republican} & \textbf{Independent} &
\textbf{Total} \\
\cmidrule(r){1-2}\cmidrule(lr){3-3}\cmidrule(lr){4-4}\cmidrule(lr){5-5}\cmidrule(l){6-6}
\textbf{Gender} & Male & 11 & 7 & 2 & 20 \\
& Female & 7 & 8 & 1 & 16\\
\midrule
& Total  & 18 & 15 & 3 &  36\\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

\end{document}


Or even like this:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{booktabs}

\begin{document}

\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{@{}>{\bfseries}lcccc@{}}
\toprule
Gender & \multicolumn{4}{c}{\textbf{Political Party Preference}} \\
\cmidrule(l){2-5}
& \textbf{Democrat} & \textbf{Republican} & \textbf{Independent} &
\textbf{Total} \\
\cmidrule(r){1-1}\cmidrule(lr){2-2}\cmidrule(lr){3-3}\cmidrule(lr){4-4}\cmidrule(l){5-5}
Male & 11 & 7 & 2 & 20 \\
Female & 7 & 8 & 1 & 16\\
\midrule
Total  & 18 & 15 & 3 &  36\\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

\end{document}


-
That looks nice! And I learned quite a bit. –  David Sep 14 '12 at 19:02
@user16203 I am glad to hear my answer helped. Please consider accepting it (different from up-voting it) after a sensible wait (perhaps another better answer can appear). In case of doubt, please see How do you accept an answer?. –  Gonzalo Medina Sep 14 '12 at 19:05
Best answer is added by @cv-radhakrishnan, exactly as the OP wanted. –  Noble P. Abraham Sep 15 '12 at 1:42
@NobleP.Abraham I guess that's up to the OP. –  Gonzalo Medina Sep 15 '12 at 1:45
@GonzaloMedina But the best answer was added later than your comment. How can one be sure, a better answer is not possible? A discussion here meta.tex.stackexchange.com/questions/2753/… –  Noble P. Abraham Sep 15 '12 at 1:52

@user16203 You might try this code:

 \documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabls,pxfonts}

\begin{document}

\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{c|lccc|c|}
\multicolumn{1}{c}{} & \multicolumn{5}{c}{\textbf{Political Party Preference}} \\\cline{2-6}
& & \textsf{Democrat}  & \textsf{Republican}
& \textsf{Independent} & \textsf{Total} \\ \cline{2-6}
\multicolumn{1}{c|}{\textbf{Gender}}& \textbf{Male}   & 11 & 7  & 2 & 20 \\
& \textbf{Female} & 7  & 8  & 1 & 16\\ \cline{2-6}
& \textbf{Total}  & 18 & 15 & 3 & 36\\ \cline{2-6}
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

\end{document}


-
Was wondering how to control \hline to get the desired output. Great answer, Thank you. By the way, why is pxfonts used? –  Noble P. Abraham Sep 15 '12 at 1:25
pxfonts are not necessary at all, I have used to generate non-cmr looking graphic to upload. –  CV Radhakrishnan Sep 15 '12 at 5:08