Centering in tabularx and X columns

Question

How can I center the column when using X in tabularx environment like in this example?

\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{@{}lXXXXX@{}}
 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 \\   
\end{tabularx}

Answer 1

You have two solutions (well at least)

If you are bound to tabularx then you can use

\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{@{}l *5{>{\centering\arraybackslash}X}@{}}
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6\\
\end{tabularx}

Alternatively you can use the tabu package which offers you a lot more flexibility:

\begin{tabu} to \textwidth {@{} l *5{X[c]}@{}}
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6\\
\end{tabu}

Answer 2

\usepackage{tabularx,ragged2e}
\renewcommand\tabularxcolumn[1]{>{\Centering}p{#1}}

with ragged2e you do not need the \arraybackslash

Answer 3

Although this question is somewhat old, since I recently dealt with the same task, I present my solution: I defined a new columntype Y to center the cells in a tabularxenvironment.

In the preamble define:

\newcolumntype{Y}{>{\centering\arraybackslash}X}

to typeset the example simply enter

\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{@{}lYYYYY@{}}
 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6\\   
\end{tabularx}