243

Suppose I have two tables that don't have many columns (3, for example). How can I position them side by side?

1
  • 27
    This question is quite popular, but the answers seem to have quite some overlap, but lack a coherent comparsion of the pros & cons of the different techniques used: minipage, subfig & subfloat, \quad (?), parbox, subcaption & subtable. Is there a consensus of what's considered best, if both "subtables" also have some basic (not a fully-fledged one with the "Table 2.1"-bit) caption? Commented Apr 18, 2013 at 5:59

7 Answers 7

217

Just put two tabular environments side by side. Add spacing as desired.

\begin{tabular}{ccc}
\hline
a&b&c\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\quad
\begin{tabular}{ccc}
\hline
d&e&f\\
\hline
\end{tabular}

If you want to use subfig because you want them to have separate captions, then that is simple as well.

\subfloat[caption]{\begin{tabular}{...}...\end{tabular}}
\quad
\subfloat[caption]{\begin{tabular}{...}...\end{tabular}}

If you want two tables that are independent, and thus don't want to use \subfloat, you can use \parbox.

\begin{table}
\parbox{.45\linewidth}{
\centering
\begin{tabular}{ccc}
\hline
a&b&c\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\caption{Foo}
}
\hfill
\parbox{.45\linewidth}{
\centering
\begin{tabular}{ccc}
\hline
d&e&f\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\caption{Bar}
}
\end{table}

This is basically the same as before just that I've centered each tabular in a \parbox with an included caption and wrapped the whole thing in a table.

5
  • 4
    +1 to the the first option that is very simple and suited very well for me.
    – srodriguex
    Commented May 13, 2015 at 1:38
  • By the first option, just put two tabular environments side by side, they aren't positioned next to each other, if I'm correct? Commented Feb 24, 2017 at 22:33
  • 1
    how do i use captions for the 1st option ?
    – Kong
    Commented Dec 3, 2017 at 18:00
  • 1
    As @MusséRedi mentioned first solution does not work (at least for me). Solution using table and parbox worked fine. Commented Apr 17, 2022 at 4:37
  • It blows my mind that for once, there is a trivial solution (number 1) for a problem in LaTeX that works surprisingly well. Commented Jun 10 at 11:02
102

If you want two tabulars next to each other in a (floating) table environment, then you can use minipages

screenshot

\begin{table}[!htb]
    \caption{Global caption}
    \begin{minipage}{.5\linewidth}
      \caption{}
      \centering
        \begin{tabular}{ll}
            1 & 2
        \end{tabular}
    \end{minipage}%
    \begin{minipage}{.5\linewidth}
      \centering
        \caption{}
        \begin{tabular}{ll}
            3 & 4
        \end{tabular}
    \end{minipage} 
\end{table}

Loading the caption package will allow easy customization, and will remove the : when the caption is empty.

If you'd like 'sub'tables, then you can use the subcaption package which introduces the subtable environment (and a lot more); the subtable environment takes the same mandatory and optional arguments as the minipage

screenshot

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{subcaption}
\begin{document}

\begin{table}[!htb]
    \caption{Global caption}
    \begin{subtable}{.5\linewidth}
      \centering
        \caption{}
        \begin{tabular}{ll}
            1 & 2
        \end{tabular}
    \end{subtable}%
    \begin{subtable}{.5\linewidth}
      \centering
        \caption{}
        \begin{tabular}{ll}
            3 & 4
        \end{tabular}
    \end{subtable} 
\end{table}

\end{document}

Note that in both cases I've used a % at the end of the environment to stop overfull hboxes from the additional space added by the minipage.

7
  • Why would I want subtables vs tabulars? Of the two methods you describe in your answer, which is better (and why) ? Commented Apr 18, 2013 at 6:51
  • 1
    On a second glance: is the main (visible) difference between the two methods the way the "sub"-captions look (e.g., "Table 2" vs. "(a)") ? Commented Apr 18, 2013 at 6:57
  • 2
    @nuttyaboutnatty yes, your second comment is accurate. It depends how you want the captions (and references) to look. It's up to you which you think is better :)
    – cmhughes
    Commented Apr 18, 2013 at 17:00
  • 2
    Is there a way to have the tables start at the same height if they are of different lengths? Commented Aug 25, 2013 at 13:15
  • @PeterM you could use savebox- see my answer to Reasons for saving a box?
    – cmhughes
    Commented Aug 25, 2013 at 15:36
17

I don't know that this is the best way, but you could make a 2-column table with a single row. In each cell of the table, wrap one of your intended tables in a minipage environment. Thus:

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{cc}
    \begin{minipage}{.5\linewidth}
        \begin{tabular}{ll}
            1 & 2
        \end{tabular}
    \end{minipage} &

    \begin{minipage}{.5\linewidth}
        \begin{tabular}{ll}
            3 & 4
        \end{tabular}
    \end{minipage} 
\end{tabular}

\end{document}
9
  • 23
    I'd appreciate a comment with the down vote; I might then learn something about what makes this a bad solution.
    – vanden
    Commented Sep 7, 2010 at 4:23
  • Er, it wasn't me. Fyi, your solution's more or less the same as the one set out in the subfig documentation section "Do You Need This Package?" So, except for the bells and whistles (e.g., decent toc handling), it's probably not too bad. Commented Sep 7, 2010 at 4:42
  • 1
    Sticking it in a minipage makes no sense to me at all.
    – TH.
    Commented Sep 7, 2010 at 5:01
  • 1
    Does this not work? My first guess was to solve it in this way... so how come it got a downvote?
    – Johan
    Commented Sep 7, 2010 at 5:03
  • 9
    I don't know why it got a downvote, but for my eyes the code has some faults: It gives an overful hbox message as the \parindent is not taken into account. It doesn't do what it probably wants to do: the tabular are not centered in the line as they are left aligned in the minipages. Also a minipage + an external tabular looks like an overkill (one at least could certainly be dropped) and makes the code difficult to read and changed. Commented Sep 7, 2010 at 10:19
14

Ceteris paribus, you might consider the subfig package. It is suitable for subtables and subfigures and combinations of these. For myself, I've managed much mileage from it.

0
11

As the solution for tables (not subtables) side by side with the floatrow package is not mentioned here, I'll add it under the form of an answer to this duplicate question.

You can do that easily with the floatrow package. I took the opportunity to propose another layout, without vertical rules, with booktabs. For your original layout I added some vertical padding to the rows, with the makecell package.

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{fourier, erewhon}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{array, caption, floatrow, tabularx, makecell, booktabs}%
\captionsetup{labelfont = sc}
\setcellgapes{3pt}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}[!htb]
  \floatsetup{floatrowsep=qquad, captionskip=4pt}
  \begin{floatrow}[2]
    \makegapedcells
    \ttabbox%
    {\begin{tabularx}{0.45\textwidth}{|c| *{2}{>{\centering\arraybackslash}X|}}
      \hline
      & Sensibilità [$\%$] & Specificità [$\%$] \\
      \hline
      $ϵ'$ & 53.492 & 77.906 \\ \hline
      $ϵ''$ & 46.753 & 61.587\\
      \hline
      \end{tabularx}}
    {\caption[Valori medi]{valori medi}
      \label{val1}}
    \hfill%
    \ttabbox%
    {\begin{tabularx}{0.45\textwidth}{|c| *{2}{>{\centering\arraybackslash}X|}}
      \hline
      & Sensibilità [$\%$] & Specificità [$\%$]\\
      \hline
      $ϵ'$ & 60\hphantom{.000} & 80.487 \\ \hline
      $ϵ''$ & 54.545 & 67.777\\
      \hline
      \end{tabularx}}
    {\caption[Valori medi]{valori medi}
      \label{val2}}
  \end{floatrow}
  \vspace*{1cm}
  \begin{floatrow}[2]
    \ttabbox%
    {\begin{tabularx}{0.45\textwidth}{c *{2}{>{\centering\arraybackslash}X}}
      \toprule
      & Sensibilità [$\%$] & Specificità [$\%$] \\
      \cmidrule(lr){2-2}\cmidrule(lr){3-3}
      $ϵ'$ & 53.492 & 77.906 \\
      \addlinespace
      $ϵ''$ & 46.753 & 61.587\\
      \bottomrule
      \end{tabularx}}
    {\caption[Valori medi]{valori medi}
      \label{val1a}}
    \hfill%
    \ttabbox%
    {\begin{tabularx}{0.45\textwidth}{c*{2}{>{\centering\arraybackslash}X}}
      \toprule
      & Sensibilità [$\%$] & Specificità [$\%$]\\
      \cmidrule(lr){2-2}\cmidrule(lr){3-3}
      $ϵ'$ & 60\hphantom{.000} & 80.487 \\
      \addlinespace
      $ϵ''$ & 54.545 & 67.777\\
      \bottomrule
      \end{tabularx}}
    {\caption[Valori medi]{valori medi}
      \label{val2a}}
  \end{floatrow}
\end{table}%

\end{document} 

enter image description here

8

2 tables side by side, with (or without) caption, without new packages: Just imbricate 2 tables! It is perfectly fine to have a table as a "regular" entry of another table

enter image description here

The top level table has 2 columns and 2 rows. The top row is the caption, the bottom row contains the "real" tables that you want.

See how \\ and & are used after \end{tabular}

\begin{tabular}{ cc }   % top level tables, with 2 columns
caption 1 & caption 2 \\  
% leftmost table of the top level table
\begin{tabular}{ |c|c|c| } 
\hline
a & b & c \\
a & b & c \\
\hline
\end{tabular} &  % starting rightmost sub table
% table 2
\begin{tabular}{ |c|c|c| } 
\hline
d & e & f \\
d & e & f \\
\hline
\end{tabular} \\
\end{tabular}
0

I will add another answer to this question because I think this solution is more simple, for simple usages like putting two table side by side.

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}

\title{Table side by side}
\author{Vincenzo Palazzo}
\date{02/04/2023}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}[!htb]
    \caption{Input and output transaction struct of Bitcoin Code.}
    \begin{center}
        \subtable{
            \begin{tabular}{|c|c|}
                \hline
                \multicolumn{2}{|c|}{\textbf{TransactionInput}} \\
                \hline \hline
                \multicolumn{1}{|c|}{Type} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{Name} \\
                \hline
                Outpoint & outpoint   \\
                \hline
                CScript & scriptSig \\
                \hline
                $uint32\_t$ & nSequence \\
                \hline
            \end{tabular}
            \centering
        } 
        \subtable{
          \centering
            \begin{tabular}{|c|c|}
                \hline
                \multicolumn{2}{|c|}{\textbf{Outpoint}} \\
                \hline \hline
                \multicolumn{1}{|c|}{Type} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{Name} \\
                \hline
                $uint256$ & hash   \\
                \hline
                $uint32\_t$ & index \\
                \hline
            \end{tabular}   
        } 
    \end{center}
    \label{tab:tx_in_and_out}
\end{table}

\end{document}

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