slim braces in a table

Question

We need to make clear that certain data is the same in several rows. An underbrace taken from math-mode does the job quite well, but is unfortunately way too prominent in the table, especially in contrast to booktab’s layout.

\documentclass{article}


\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{booktabs}


\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{lccc} 
\toprule
& XXX & YYY & ZZZ \\
\midrule
 aaa & 11111111111111 & 222222222222 & 333333333333 \\
 bbb & 11111111111111 & 222222222222 & 333333333333 \\
 ccc & 11111111111111 & 222222222222 & 333333333333 \\
 & \multicolumn{3}{c}{{$\underbrace {\hspace{22em}}$}} \\
\\
 ddd & & 0000 \\
\bottomrule 
\end{tabular}


\end{document}

I've tried \resizebox to shrink the brace, but this looks what it is: squeezed. It is also possible to use tikz to make something close to curly braces, but I am not too happy with the result of either; I'd like to retain the drawn, "swashy" quality of the math-mode.

Is there a possibility to get slimmer braces (i.e. like drawn with a narrower nib) in the same design as used in math-mode?

Answer 1

You can use a smaller font, also you can use a stretch version rather than having to specify the width:

\documentclass{article}


\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{booktabs}


\begin{document}
\font\smallex=cmex10 at 4pt
\begin{tabular}{lccc} 
\toprule
& XXX & YYY & ZZZ \\
\midrule
 aaa & 11111111111111 & 222222222222 & 333333333333 \\
 bbb & 11111111111111 & 222222222222 & 333333333333 \\
 ccc & 11111111111111 & 222222222222 & 333333333333 \\
 & \multicolumn{3}{c}{{$\underbrace {\hspace{22em}}$}} \\
 cc22c & 11111111111111 & 222222222222 & 333333333333 \\
& \multicolumn{3}{c}{\textfont3=\smallex\upbracefill} \\
 ddd & & 0000 \\
\bottomrule 
\end{tabular}


\end{document}

Answer 2

Does this look good to you?

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.pathreplacing}

\newcommand\tikzmark[1]{%
  \tikz[remember picture,overlay,inner xsep=0pt]\node (#1) {};}

\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{lccc} 
\toprule
& XXX & YYY & ZZZ \\
\midrule
 aaa & 11111111111111 & 222222222222 & 333333333333 \\
 bbb & 11111111111111 & 222222222222 & 333333333333 \\
 ccc & \tikzmark{start}11111111111111 & 222222222222 & 333333333333\tikzmark{end} \\[2pt]
 ddd & & \\
\bottomrule 
\end{tabular}
\tikz[remember picture,overlay]{
  \draw[decorate,decoration={brace,mirror,raise=2pt}] (start) --node[below=3pt] {0000} (end);
}

\end{document}

Using the line width key you can control the thickness; for example, you can use:

\tikz[remember picture,overlay]{
  \draw[line width=0.2pt,decorate,decoration={brace,mirror,raise=2pt}] (start) --node[below=3pt] {0000} (end);
}

Answer 3

Without tikz:

\documentclass{article}


\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{booktabs,xcolor}


\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{lccc}
\toprule
& XXX & YYY & ZZZ \\
\midrule
 aaa & 11111111111111 & 222222222222 & 333333333333 \\
 bbb & 11111111111111 & 222222222222 & 333333333333 \\
 ccc & 11111111111111 & 222222222222 & 333333333333 \\[-1.2em]
 & \multicolumn{3}{c}{\color{gray!70}{{$\underbrace {\hspace{22em}}$}}} \\[-.2em]
 ddd &\multicolumn{3}{c}{0000} \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}


\end{document}