# Are there an easy way to coloring tables depending on the value in each cell?

I viewed in this post Conditional format for correlation table a solution to my question, but...

Are there any easier way (or alternative) to do this using colors?

Thank you. ------------------ edited after showed than it´s duplicate ------------- I think that there are many sols, but for example this is easy using a normal table without pgf...

I´m trying to adapt to similar colors to apply to the table probabilitiess

A subtle difference between this solution, and the base code taken from the above link, is that this solution introduces max, min and MIDPOINT values, so that one gradient is achieved for the lower half (yellow -> red), and another for the upper half (yellow -> green) of the numbers.

I have also added a max / min limit to the calculated values, so that they are in the range 0 to 100, if they are outside this value, errors are thrown.

Here is the code to do it:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{collcell}

%The min, mid and max values
\newcommand*{\MinNumber}{0.0}%
\newcommand*{\MidNumber}{0.5} %
\newcommand*{\MaxNumber}{1.0}%

\ifdim #1 pt > \MidNumber pt
\pgfmathsetmacro{\PercentColor}{max(min(100.0*(#1 - \MidNumber)/(\MaxNumber-\MidNumber),100.0),0.00)} %
\hspace{-0.33em}\colorbox{green!\PercentColor!yellow}{#1}
\else
\pgfmathsetmacro{\PercentColor}{max(min(100.0*(\MidNumber - #1)/(\MidNumber-\MinNumber),100.0),0.00)} %
\hspace{-0.33em}\colorbox{red!\PercentColor!yellow}{#1}
\fi
}

\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{0}
\setlength{\fboxsep}{3mm} % box size
\setlength{\tabcolsep}{0pt}

\begin{document}
\begin{table}[ht]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{*{10}{R}}
1.00 & 1.00 & 1.00 & 1.00 & 0.99 & 0.98 & 0.96 & 0.90 & 0.82 & 0.37 \\
1.00 & 1.00 & 0.99 & 0.98 & 0.95 & 0.90 & 0.82 & 0.61 & 0.37 & 0.01 \\
1.00 & 0.99 & 0.98 & 0.96 & 0.90 & 0.82 & 0.67 & 0.37 & 0.14 & 0.00 \\
1.00 & 0.98 & 0.95 & 0.90 & 0.78 & 0.61 & 0.37 & 0.08 & 0.01 & 0.00 \\
0.99 & 0.95 & 0.90 & 0.82 & 0.61 & 0.37 & 0.14 & 0.01 & 0.00 & 0.00 \\
0.98 & 0.90 & 0.82 & 0.67 & 0.37 & 0.14 & 0.02 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \\
0.95 & 0.78 & 0.61 & 0.37 & 0.08 & 0.01 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \\
0.90 & 0.61 & 0.37 & 0.14 & 0.01 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \\
0.82 & 0.37 & 0.14 & 0.02 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \\
0.37 & 0.01 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \\
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\end{table}
\end{document}


For the record, I find it totally frustrating producing things like the following, where NOT ALL of the cells are subject to the shading, and, there are header rows etc. I am sure there is a more glamorous way to do this, and I am interested in finding out how...

• Yes :-) Thank You very much, It´s the solution. Now for particular tastes you can set green and red, less or mor brigthness but... This message is THE SOLUTION :-) I think that this code with a row and a col for the labels... may be a good solution to other users. For me it´s valid so. – Mika Ike May 4 '14 at 5:54
• Thanks. But for the record, I find it entirely frustrating working with tables in latex for anything over and above the usual B&W varieties. I have modified my answer to show what can be done based on some of my work, but it is very painful in my opinion... – Nicholas Hamilton May 4 '14 at 6:08
• Yes, now I understand when you said "PAIN" :-) Yes, but it´s not onl with table that it´s a PAIN ;-) There many things. The results are pretty, but.. the effort is high. Sometimes I think that Latex is close to a punishment that I have chosed for my final job. – Mika Ike May 4 '14 at 6:18
• I don't think so, just tables are my personal gripe. Everything else is awesome. – Nicholas Hamilton May 4 '14 at 6:21
• \nicholas-hamilton I´m starting using psmatrix and flowcharts (and similar with otherr packages and things), and any little thing you want to add, you need to use other package, or there are any special variable to define or anything... It´s pretty but.. sometimes it´s so complicated, and a little change... generates multiple complications. Are there any post/posts where to learn good practices? – Mika Ike May 4 '14 at 6:26

The linked questions give answers if you are using pgfplotstable/tikz but they are not needed if you only want colouring and not the other features of those packages. The following aligns the numbers on the comma and gives one of three background colours depending on the value.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{colortbl,dcolumn}

\def\zz#1{%
\ifdim#1pt<5pt\cellcolor{green}\else
\ifdim#1pt<50pt\cellcolor{yellow}\else
\cellcolor{red}\fi\fi
#1}

\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{*3{D,,{2.2}}c}
\zz {1,2} &\zz  {3,04}  &\zz {5,44}  \\
\zz {1,01}&\zz {77,5}  &\zz {77,94} \\
\zz {3,42}&\zz   {4,04} &\zz {51,04}
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

• It´s not exactly a temperature using the gradient to show how close or far are to the max /min but, I like your code. It´s possible I use it in other cases. Thank you. – Mika Ike May 4 '14 at 5:51
• @MikaIke no I just use \ifdim to split it into three ranges but obviously you can put any test you want there – David Carlisle May 4 '14 at 9:21

The solution by Nicholas Hamilton does not work if you want to have non-numeric header in the table. I have found the following workaround (https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/40603):

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{collcell}

% https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/40603 - only color in table body
\usepackage{etoolbox}

% Redefine tabular to initialize \StartTableHeader at start and end
\let\OldTabular\tabular%
\let\OldEndTabular\endtabular%

%The min, mid and max values
\newcommand*{\MinNumber}{0.0}%
\newcommand*{\MidNumber}{0.5} %
\newcommand*{\MaxNumber}{1.0}%

\ifdim #1 pt > \MidNumber pt
\pgfmathsetmacro{\PercentColor}{max(min(100.0*(#1 - \MidNumber)/(\MaxNumber-\MidNumber),100.0),0.00)} %
\hspace{-0.33em}\colorbox{green!\PercentColor!yellow}{#1}
\else
\pgfmathsetmacro{\PercentColor}{max(min(100.0*(\MidNumber - #1)/(\MidNumber-\MinNumber),100.0),0.00)} %
\hspace{-0.33em}\colorbox{red!\PercentColor!yellow}{#1}
\fi
}}

\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{0}
\setlength{\fboxsep}{3mm} % box size
\setlength{\tabcolsep}{0pt}

\begin{document}
\begin{table}[ht]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{*{10}{R}}
A    & B    & C    & D    & E    & F    & G    & H    & I    & J    \EndTableHeader\\
\hline
1.00 & 1.00 & 1.00 & 1.00 & 0.99 & 0.98 & 0.96 & 0.90 & 0.82 & 0.37 \\
1.00 & 1.00 & 0.99 & 0.98 & 0.95 & 0.90 & 0.82 & 0.61 & 0.37 & 0.01 \\
1.00 & 0.99 & 0.98 & 0.96 & 0.90 & 0.82 & 0.67 & 0.37 & 0.14 & 0.00 \\
1.00 & 0.98 & 0.95 & 0.90 & 0.78 & 0.61 & 0.37 & 0.08 & 0.01 & 0.00 \\
0.99 & 0.95 & 0.90 & 0.82 & 0.61 & 0.37 & 0.14 & 0.01 & 0.00 & 0.00 \\
0.98 & 0.90 & 0.82 & 0.67 & 0.37 & 0.14 & 0.02 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \\
0.95 & 0.78 & 0.61 & 0.37 & 0.08 & 0.01 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \\
0.90 & 0.61 & 0.37 & 0.14 & 0.01 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \\
0.82 & 0.37 & 0.14 & 0.02 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \\
0.37 & 0.01 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 & 0.00 \\
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\end{table}
\end{document}


This gives: