Analog of \vspace*{\fill} in tables (LaTeX)

Question

I have a table, say

\begin{tabular}{|p{1cm}|p{10cm}|}
  \hline
  t ... b & text with some number of lines 
\\
  \hline
\end{tabular}

In the right (large) entry I have text with some (but originally indefinite) number of lines (some quote, say). In the left entry I want to see 't' in the top of entry, and 'b' in the bottom, respectively.

So I'd like to organize some analog of \vspace*{\fill} (which moves text for common page), but for the single tabular entry, whose height is unknown and determined by the text of the neighbour entry.

\vspace*{\fill} being put between 't' and 'b', does not affect since (my assumption) LaTeX is not in vertical mode.

Could anybody help with advise or refer to some tex.stackexchange page where such a question was discussed?

Answer 1

You could use overprinting:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{mwe}
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{|p{1cm}|p{10cm}|}
  \hline
  t & \blindtext\\[-\normalbaselineskip]% jump back one text line
  \hfill\dots\ b & \\ % and overprint the last line
  \hline
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

Note: This solution fails, if the last line in the right column does not have the height of a normal text line.

Answer 2

Some parameters are hardwired, but better than nothing. The idea is to measure the height of the right column.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array}

\usepackage{lipsum} % just for the example

\newcommand{\funnyrow}[3]{%
  % #1 = text at the top in the left column
  % #2 = text at the bottom in the left column
  % #3 = text in the right column
  \sbox0{\parbox[b]{10cm}{#3}}%
  \parbox[b][\ht0][s]{1cm}{#1\vfill\raggedleft#2}&
  #3
}

\begin{document}

\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{|b{1cm}|b{10cm}|}
\hline
\funnyrow{t}{\dots b}{
  \lipsum*[2]
}\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

\end{document}