# How to add extra spaces between rows in tabular environment?

I couldn't find any option that lets me expand the vertical space between rows in tabular environment. For example,

\begin{tabular}{c c}
$f^{(n)}(x)$ & $f^{(n)}(0)$ \\
$-2xe^{-x^{x^{x^2}}}$ & 0
\end{tabular}


This looks awkward because of the powers of x. I wonder if there is an option to expand the vertical spaces between these rows?

You have at least three options here:

• Increasing the array stretch factor using \renewcommand{\arraystretch}{<factor>} where <factor> is a numeric value:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{2}
\begin{tabular}{c c}
$f^{(n)}(x)$ & $f^{(n)}(0)$ \\\hline
$-2xe^{-x^{x^{x^2}}}$ & 0
\end{tabular}
\end{document}


• Explicitly specifying the row skip using \$<len>] where <len> is any length: \documentclass{article} \begin{document} \begin{tabular}{c c} f^{(n)}(x) & f^{(n)}(0) \\[1cm] \hline -2xe^{-x^{x^{x^2}}} & 0 \end{tabular} \end{document}  • Modifying the array package's \extrarowheight length using \setlength{\extrarowheight}{<len>}, where <len> is any length: \documentclass{article} \usepackage{array}% http://ctan.org/pkg/array \begin{document} \setlength{\extrarowheight}{20pt} \begin{tabular}{c c} f^{(n)}(x) & f^{(n)}(0) \\\hline -2xe^{-x^{x^{x^2}}} & 0 \end{tabular} \end{document}  In the above examples, the \hline was used to illustrate the effect of the different styles used. The choice depends on the specific usage/typesetting of the tabular within your document. Finally, if the contents of your entire tabular is math, you could typeset it in an array environment: \[ \begin{array}{c c} f^{(n)}(x) & f^{(n)}(0) \\ -2xe^{-x^{x^{x^2}}} & 0 \end{array}$

• Thanks a lot for the answer as well as many other alternative solutions ;)
– Chan
Aug 28, 2011 at 2:10
• How can I define the row skip ($1cm] in your example) with a multirow cell in my table? I would like to enlarge the space between all other cells which are spanned by the multirow, but defining the row skip just like you do it does not work. – Rob Feb 22, 2016 at 13:13 • @Rob: My suggestion would be to ask a new question with a clear demonstration of what you have and what you're after. You can then link to this post if you wish to provide some additional context. – Werner Feb 22, 2016 at 17:11 • Problem solved. \\[1cm] was just not big enough to see any difference... – Rob Feb 23, 2016 at 9:08 • I had a table with many rows and I wanted to increase the space of only one row. The best solution for me in this case was to insert a vertical strut of the type \rule{0pt}{1.2\normalbaselineskip}, as mentioned here tex.stackexchange.com/questions/65127/… Aug 3, 2016 at 14:38 You can use booktabs. Left is the output using \midrule, right the one with the \hline approach. The left table is also improved by stating \displaystyle that uses less cramped superscripts. \documentclass{article} \usepackage{array,booktabs} \newcolumntype{C}{>{\displaystyle}c<{}} \begin{document} \begin{tabular}{CC} f^{(n)}(x) & f^{(n)}(0) \\ \midrule -2xe^{-x^{x^{x^2}}} & 0 \end{tabular} \qquad \begin{tabular}{cc} f^{(n)}(x) & f^{(n)}(0) \\ \hline -2xe^{-x^{x^{x^2}}} & 0 \end{tabular} \end{document}  For multi-rows, you can try this \documentclass{article} \usepackage{array}% \begin{document} \begin{tabular}{c c} f^{(n)}(x) & f^{(n)}(0) \\[1cm] -2e^{-x^{x^{x}}} & 0\\[1cm] 2x&\frac{x}{2}\\[1cm] . . . \end{tabular} \end{document}  • This is already covered by Werner's answer. Jul 22, 2016 at 18:10 You have another option here - specifying row colors: \documentclass{article} \usepackage{color, colortbl} %Light gray: \definecolor{Gray}{gray}{0.9} %Light cyan: \definecolor{LightCyan}{rgb}{0.88,1,1} \begin{document} \renewcommand{\arraystretch}{2} \begin{tabular}{c c} \rowcolor{Gray} f^{(n)}(x) & f^{(n)}(0) \\\hline \rowcolor{LightCyan} -2xe^{-x^{x^{x^2}}} & 0 \end{tabular} \end{document}  • Welcome to TeX.SX! Not really an answer to the question, but an interesting alternative. Oct 16, 2016 at 14:11 Eventually, the options any LaTeX beginner desired were born! The new (May 2021) package tabularray has two options to set the space before and after the table rows: abovesep and belowsep or the parameter rows! The same package have also analogous options for columns, together with many other useful parameters and column types. The environment tblr works both on math and text mode. Thanks to Jianrui Lyu (the author)! \documentclass{book} \usepackage{tabularray} \begin{document} A pure \texttt{tblr} it's already OK \[ \begin{tblr}{c c} f^{(n)}(x) & f^{(n)}(0) \\ -2xe^{-x^{x^{x^2}}} & 0 \end{tblr}$
but you can even set the space you need:
$\begin{tblr}{cells={c},rows = {abovesep=6pt,belowsep=8pt},} f^{(n)}(x) & f^{(n)}(0) \\ -2xe^{-x^{x^{x^2}}} & 0 \end{tblr}$
You can set the spacing also for one row only with \verb|abovesep+| and \verb|belowsep+|, indicating the number of the row with \verb|row{<number>}|:
$\begin{tblr}{cells={c},row{2}= {abovesep=4pt},} f^{(n)}(x) & f^{(n)}(0) \\ -2xe^{-x^{x^{x^2}}} & 0 \end{tblr}$

Here I add \verb|hline|s to better show the spacing:
$\begin{tblr}{c c} \hline f^{(n)}(x) & f^{(n)}(0) \\ \hline -2xe^{-x^{x^{x^2}}} & 0 \\ \hline \end{tblr}$
$\begin{tblr}{cells={c},rows = {abovesep=6pt,belowsep=8pt},} \hline f^{(n)}(x) & f^{(n)}(0) \\ \hline -2xe^{-x^{x^{x^2}}} & 0 \\ \hline \end{tblr}$
$\begin{tblr}{cells={c},row{2}= {abovesep=4pt},} \hline f^{(n)}(x) & f^{(n)}(0) \\ \hline -2xe^{-x^{x^{x^2}}} & 0 \\ \hline \end{tblr}$

\end{document}