Making table fill the page vertically

Question

I have several tables in my document that are just a bit too small to fill the entire page, vertically.

I'd like to stretch the table, either by adding empty lines at the bottom, or by stretching the lineskip, so that the table fills the text area.

How would I go about this?

\documentclass{scrbook} % because that is what I use

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

\usepackage{tabularx}

\usepackage{showframe}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}

\begin{table*}
\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{|X|X|}
\hline
\textbf{Column A} & \textbf{Column B}\\
\hline
\lipsum[1] & \lipsum[2] \\
\hline
\end{tabularx}
\end{table*}

\end{document}

I want the red-marked whitespace to disappear, i.e. the table borders to match the textarea borders.

Note that this is contrived. In the real document, this is about sidewaystable - making the non-textarea height much more disruptive for the overall layout, and removing the option of simply having surrounding text take up the whitespace.

Answer 1

A solution, where the caption is put inside the tables (example tables taken from the answers of David Carlisle and DevSolar):

\documentclass[captions=tableheading]{scrbook}

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{rotating}

\usepackage[vlines]{tabularht}

\usepackage{showframe}
\usepackage{lipsum}   

\newdimen\orgtextwidth
\setlength{\orgtextwidth}{\textwidth}

\begin{document}

\makeatletter

\begin{table*}
\begin{tabularhtx}{\textheight}{\linewidth}{|X|X|}
\noalign{%
  \caption{This is an example}%
}
\hline
\interrowfill
\textbf{Column A} & \textbf{Column B}\\
\interrowfill
\hline
\interrowfill
\lipsum[2] & \lipsum[2]\\
\interrowfill
\hline
\end{tabularhtx}
\end{table*}

\begin{table*}
\centering
\begin{tabularht}{\textheight}{|l|}
\multicolumn{1}{@{}c@{}}{%
  \hbox to 0pt{%
    \hss
    \centerline{%
      \parbox{\linewidth}{%
       \caption{This is an example}%
      }%
    }%  
    \hss
  }%
}\\ 
\hline
\interrowfill
\textbf{Col.}\\
\interrowfill  
\hline
\interrowfill
abc\\
\interrowfill
def\\
\interrowfill
ghi\\
\interrowfill
\hline
\end{tabularht}
\end{table*}   

\clearpage

\begin{sidewaystable*}
\begin{tabularhtx}{\orgtextwidth}{\linewidth}{|X|X|}
\hline
\noalign{\captionabove{This is an example}}
\hline
\interrowfill
\textbf{Column A} & \textbf{Column B}\\
\interrowfill
\hline
\interrowfill
\lipsum[2] & \lipsum[2]\\
\interrowfill
\hline
\end{tabularhtx}
\end{sidewaystable*}
\end{document}

Remarks:

• The horizontal position inside \noalign is the left border of the tabular. Because the width of the tabular is not known here, a proper centering is only possible, if the table spans the full width.

• KOMA-Script option captions=tableheadings added to get the correct spacing for the table captions.

• Inside sidewaystable* \captionabove is used, because KOMA-Script fails to see that this is also a table.

Answer 2

or the exact opposite of the comment I see @Heiko just made, this affects cells but not table rows.

\documentclass{scrbook} % because that is what I use

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

\usepackage{tabularx}

\makeatletter
\def\ugg#1{{%
\sbox{0}{\tx}
\dimen0\dimexpr\ht0+\dp0
\sbox{0}{\advance\normalbaselineskip1pt \tx}
\count@\strip@pt\dimexpr\ht0+\dp0 - \dimen0 \relax\relax
\dimen@\dimexpr\textheight-\ht0-\dp0\relax
\divide\dimen@ \count@
\advance\normalbaselineskip\dimen@ \tx
}}
\makeatother

\usepackage{showframe}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}

\def\tx{%
\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{|X|X|}
\hline
\textbf{Column A} & \textbf{Column B}\\
\hline
\lipsum[1] & \lipsum[2] \\
\hline
\end{tabularx}}

\begin{table*}
\ugg{\tx}
\end{table*}

\end{document}

Answer 3

Heiko's comment on tabularht set me on the right path, and egreg helped me with figuring out how to take caption height into account. This is the complete solution. (Perhaps something to consider for includion in tabularht?)

\documentclass{scrbook}

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{rotating}

% These are the packages required by the solution
\usepackage[vlines]{tabularht}
\usepackage{calc}

% The sidewaystable environment screws up \textwidth,
% so we have to store its value beforehand.
\newlength{\SidewaysTextHeight}
\setlength{\SidewaysTextHeight}{\textwidth}

% Full-page height minus the vertical size of the caption
\newlength{\TabularhtHeight}

\makeatletter
% \captionht - typeset a caption and simultaneously set \TabularhtHeight
\newcommand{\captionht}[2][]{%
    \stepcounter{table}%
    \setbox\z@=\vbox{\@makecaption\fnum@table{#2}}%
    \addtocounter{table}{-1}%
    \setlength{\TabularhtHeight}{\textheight-\ht\z@-\lineskip}%
    \if\relax\detokenize{#1}\relax
        \caption{#2}%
    \else
        \caption[#1]{#2}%
    \fi
}

% \captionwd - as \captionht, but for sidewaystable
\newcommand{\captionwd}[2][]{%
    \stepcounter{table}%
    \setbox\z@=\vbox{\@makecaption\fnum@table{#2}}%
    \addtocounter{table}{-1}%
    \setlength{\TabularhtHeight}{\SidewaysTextHeight-\ht\z@-\lineskip}%
    \if\relax\detokenize{#1}\relax
        \caption{#2}%
    \else
        \caption[#1]{#2}%
    \fi
}
\makeatother

\usepackage{showframe}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}

\begin{table*}
\captionht{Caption} % \captionht for table
\begin{tabularhtx}{\TabularhtHeight}{\linewidth}{|X|X|}
\hline
\interrowfill
\textbf{Column A} & \textbf{Column B}\\
\interrowfill
\hline
\interrowfill
\lipsum[2] & \lipsum[2]\\
\interrowfill
\hline
\end{tabularhtx}
\end{table*}

\clearpage

\begin{sidewaystable*}
\captionwd{Caption} % \captionwd for sidewaystable
\begin{tabularhtx}{\TabularhtHeight}{\linewidth}{|X|X|}
\hline
\interrowfill
\textbf{Column A} & \textbf{Column B}\\
\interrowfill
\hline
\interrowfill
\lipsum[2] & \lipsum[2]\\
\interrowfill
\hline
\end{tabularhtx}
\end{sidewaystable*}

\end{document}

You might note that the sidewaystable does not fit the textarea exactly. I'd welcome any hints as to why that is the case.

Edit: Contacted the rotating maintainer about the layout issue. Will update here if I recieve feedback.