Possible to create table inside a table

Question

Is it possible to create a table inside a table like this in LaTeX, can someone please lead me in right direction to achieve this? Thanks

Answer 1

Here's one possibility nesting tabulars:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=3cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}

\begin{document}

\begingroup
\renewcommand\arraystretch{1.3}
\noindent\begin{tabular}{
  | >{\ttfamily\raggedright}p{2cm}
  | >{\sffamily\raggedright}p{2.5cm}
  | >{\sffamily}p{\dimexpr\textwidth-6\tabcolsep-4\fboxsep-4.5cm\relax} |
}
\hline
\rowcolor{gray!20}\multicolumn{1}{|l|}{\bfseries\sffamily Name} 
  & \multicolumn{1}{l|}{\bfseries\sffamily Type} 
  & \multicolumn{1}{l|}{\bfseries\sffamily Description} \\
\hline
& & \\[-2ex]
d\_super & struct disk\_superblock &
  \begin{tabular}[t]{
    | >{\ttfamily\raggedright}p{1.5cm}
    | >{\sffamily\raggedright}p{1.5cm}
    | >{\sffamily}p{\dimexpr\textwidth-12\tabcolsep-5\fboxsep-7.5cm\relax} |
  }
  \firsthline
  \multicolumn{1}{|l|}{\cellcolor{gray!20}\bfseries Name} 
    & \multicolumn{1}{l|}{\cellcolor{gray!20}\bfseries Type} 
    & \multicolumn{1}{l|}{\cellcolor{gray!20}\bfseries Description} \\
  \hline
  magic & char array & magic number used to indicate if file system is generated by our OS \\
  \hline
  magic & char array & magic number used to indicate if file system is generated by our OS \\
  \hline
  \end{tabular} \\[15ex]
\hline
ibmap & void\textsuperscript{*} & Pointer to l-Nodes bitmap \\
\hline
ibmap & void\textsuperscript{*} & Pointer to l-Nodes bitmap \\
\hline
ibmap & void\textsuperscript{*} & Pointer to l-Nodes bitmap \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\endgroup

\end{document}

And suppressing the vertical rules and using booktabs:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=3cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}

\begin{document}

\noindent\begin{tabular}{
   >{\ttfamily\raggedright}p{2cm}
   >{\sffamily\raggedright}p{2.5cm}
   >{\sffamily}p{\dimexpr\textwidth-6\tabcolsep-4\fboxsep-4.5cm\relax}
}
\toprule
\multicolumn{1}{l}{\bfseries\sffamily Name} 
  & \multicolumn{1}{l}{\bfseries\sffamily Type} 
  & \multicolumn{1}{l}{\bfseries\sffamily Description} \\
\midrule
& & \\[-2ex]
d\_super & struct disk\_superblock &
  \vspace{-15pt}\begin{tabular}[t]{
     >{\ttfamily\raggedright}p{1.5cm}
     >{\sffamily\raggedright}p{1.5cm}
     >{\sffamily}p{\dimexpr\textwidth-12\tabcolsep-5\fboxsep-7.5cm\relax}
  }
  \toprule
  \multicolumn{1}{l}{\bfseries\sffamily Name} 
    & \multicolumn{1}{l}{\bfseries\sffamily Type} 
    & \multicolumn{1}{l}{\bfseries\sffamily Description} \\
  \midrule
  d\_super & char array & magic number used to indicate if file system is generated by our OS \\
  magic & char array & magic number used to indicate if file system is generated by our OS \\
  \bottomrule
  \end{tabular} \\[16.5ex]
\midrule  
ibmap & void\textsuperscript{*} & Pointer to l-Nodes bitmap \\
ibmap & void\textsuperscript{*} & Pointer to l-Nodes bitmap \\
ibmap & void\textsuperscript{*} & Pointer to l-Nodes bitmap \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

Answer 2

You can nest tabularx without problems. I've done this to create a RPG character sheet, with lots of little details added with the help of the good people here on tex.SE... ripping some of the source from the document for example, translating and commenting for easier reading... the screenshot is the original German though. And I don't have a stand-alone, compilable example right now, this is part of a >500 page volume, the preamble alone coming in at 12k...

% In the preamble... you *probably* need some packages in addition to
% tabularx for the below to work, but it's inconsequential to the subject
% of tabularx nesting, and I don't have the leisure to turn this into
% a compilable stand-alone

\newcommand{\Top}{\rule{0pt}{2.6ex}}       % strut for \hline above
\newcommand{\Bot}{\rule[-1.2ex]{0pt}{0pt}} % strut for \hline below

% Create an underline as long as the given text would be
\newcommand*{\srule}[2][0pt]{\setbox0\hbox{#2}\rule[#1]{\wd0}{0.4pt}}

% New tabularx column type: C is like X, just centered.
\newcolumntype{C}{>{\centering\arraybackslash}X}

% Making \cellwidth the width of the tabularx cell we are currently in
\makeatletter
\newcommand{\cellwidth}{\TX@col@width}
\makeatother

% --------------------------------------
% In the document...
% --------------------------------------

% Full-width table with three cells, each containing a table in turn
% @{} suppressing padding -- the sub-tables take care of that.
\noindent\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{@{}X@{}X@{}X@{}}
{
% Cell 1 -- Character description
\begin{tabularx}{\cellwidth}{|lX}
\hline
\multicolumn{2}{|c}{\scshape\textbf{Character}\Top{}\Bot{}}\\
\textbf{Name:}        & \hrulefill\Top{}\\
\textbf{Race:}        & \hrulefill\\
\textbf{Height:}      & \hrulefill\\
\textbf{Build:}       & \hrulefill\\
\textbf{Hair:}        & \hrulefill\\
\textbf{Eyes:}        & \hrulefill\\
\textbf{Outlook:}     & \hrulefill\\
\textbf{Age:}         & \hrulefill\Bot{}\\
\hline
\end{tabularx}
} & {
% Cell 2 -- Header, Basic stats.
\begin{tabularx}{\cellwidth}{@{}C@{}}
{
% Actually setting up a sub-sub-table here for the header...
\begin{tabularx}{\cellwidth}{|@{}C@{}|}
\hline
% Inserting a graphical header here, fudging a bit with \rule to get the padding right
\rule{0pt}{29.25pt}\includegraphics[width=0.95\cellwidth]{pic/CharacterSheet.pdf}\\
\scshape\textbf{Player}\\
\Top{}\Bot{}\\
\hline
\end{tabularx}
}\\
{
% ...and another sub-sub-table for the basic stats.
\begin{tabularx}{\cellwidth}{lX}
\textbf{Profession:}   & \hrulefill\Top{}\\
\textbf{Power Realm:}  & \hrulefill\\
\textbf{Experience:}   & \hrulefill\\
\textbf{Level:}        & \hrulefill\Bot{}\\
\hline
\end{tabularx}}\\
\end{tabularx}
} & {
% Cell 3 -- Languages
\begin{tabularx}{\cellwidth}{|Xcc|}
\hline
\multicolumn{3}{|c|}{\scshape\textbf{Languages}}\Top{}\Bot{}\\
\textbf{Language} & \textbf{Spoken} & \textbf{Written}\Top{}\\
\hrulefill       & \srule{Spoken}  & \srule{Written}\\
\hrulefill       & \srule{Spoken}  & \srule{Written}\\
\hrulefill       & \srule{Spoken}  & \srule{Written}\\
\hrulefill       & \srule{Spoken}  & \srule{Written}\\
\hrulefill       & \srule{Spoken}  & \srule{Written}\\
\hrulefill       & \srule{Spoken}  & \srule{Written}\\
\hrulefill       & \srule{Spoken}  & \srule{Written}\Bot{}\\
\hline
\end{tabularx}
}\\  
\end{tabularx}