# How to make enough space in empty column?

As I am trying to make a simple table in Latex, I realize the empty column that I created has a really small width. Is there a way that I can increase the space in empty column?

• Show us the table. It's the only way we can understand what you are talking about. – Werner Jan 23 '15 at 3:56
• Ideally show us the table in the form of a complete, but minimal example (or see here). – jon Jan 23 '15 at 4:01
• I just added a picture – lopedoes Jan 23 '15 at 4:05
• The actual LaTeX code is more useful, actually. But maybe try something like a p-column specifier (e.g., instead of having {|l|l|}, try something like {|l|p{1cm}|}. But, really, it helps to see your actual input/code. – jon Jan 23 '15 at 4:32
• Unrelated to your question, but Vpp and Vrms should most likely be $V_{\textrm{pp}}$ and $V_{\textrm{rms}}$ instead. – Paul Gessler Jan 23 '15 at 11:46

Create a single-column tabular, and specify the width of the space between the right-side double-line:

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{|l|@{\hspace{1em}}|}
\hline
A \\
\hline
B \\
\hline
\end{tabular}

\begin{tabular}{|l|@{\hspace{2em}}|}
\hline
A \\
\hline
B \\
\hline
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

• How to put a header of the blank column? – alhelal Mar 13 '18 at 0:42
• @alhelal: Consider this code (output). – Werner Mar 13 '18 at 4:20

If you want to have the same width for both columns, you could just insert an \hphantom with the content of the widest left site input.

% arara: pdflatex

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array} % fixing the gaps in the vertical lines.

\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|}
\hline
A & \hphantom{A} \\
\hline
B & \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{document}


Two alternatives. With the first

\newcommand{\wb}[1]{#1&\phantom{#1}}


the second column will have exactly the same width as the first one, because at each row we add a phantom with the same contents.

With the other possibility

\newcommand{\wb}[1]{#1&\hspace{1cm}}


the second column will have a fixed width, 1cm in this case.

In the example I use \renewcommand just to show both possibilities in the same document. This shows also that using macros leaves you free to decide the format until the last moment.

\documentclass{article}

\newcommand{\wb}[1]{#1&\phantom{#1}}

\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{|c|c|}
\hline
\wb{A} \\
\hline
\wb{B} \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|}
\hline
\wb{Vpp} \\
\hline
\wb{Vrms} \\
\hline
\end{tabular}

\bigskip

\renewcommand{\wb}[1]{#1&\hspace{1cm}}

\begin{tabular}{|c|c|}
\hline
\wb{A} \\
\hline
\wb{B} \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|}
\hline
\wb{Vpp} \\
\hline
\wb{Vrms} \\
\hline
\end{tabular}

\end{document}