tabular sets column widths to the widest element across all rows.
Is it possible to set two or more separate tabulars to consider each other's column widths and pick the largest of the them?
For example, if I break a tabular with additional paragraph text and want to continue the tabular as if it were a longtable crossing onto the next page (same column widths, possibly reiterating the headers), would this be possible?
The idea is to create a bunch of special column types such that every time this column type appears in a tabular it will always have the same width. This requires 2 runs of the document, where the widths computed in the first run are saved in the aux file.
Note: If you ever want to make the columns narrower, you will need to delete the aux file or at least comment out the \AtEndDocument.
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array}
\newsavebox{\tempbox}% \box0 etc. used
\makeatletter
\newcommand{\saveWidth}[1]% #1=column name (A,B,...)
{\immediate\write\@auxout{\string\initWidth{#1}{\the\csname Width#1\endcsname}}}
\newcommand{\initWidth}[2]% #1=column name (A,B,...), #2=the width
{\@ifundefined{Width#1}{}{\global\csname Width#1\endcsname=#2\relax}}
\makeatother
\newlength{\WidthA}% one for each column type
\newlength{\WidthB}
\newlength{\WidthC}
\AtEndDocument{\saveWidth{A}\saveWidth{B}\saveWidth{C}}
\newcolumntype{A}{>{\savebox{\tempbox}\bgroup}{l}<{\egroup%
\ifdim\wd\tempbox>\WidthA \global\WidthA=\wd\tempbox\fi%
\makebox[\WidthA][l]{\usebox\tempbox}}}
\newcolumntype{B}{>{\savebox{\tempbox}\bgroup}{c}<{\egroup%
\ifdim\wd\tempbox>\WidthB \global\WidthB=\wd\tempbox\fi%
\makebox[\WidthB][c]{\usebox\tempbox}}}
\newcolumntype{C}{>{\savebox{\tempbox}\bgroup}{r}<{\egroup%
\ifdim\wd\tempbox>\WidthC \global\WidthC=\wd\tempbox\fi%
\makebox[\WidthC][r]{\usebox\tempbox}}}
\begin{document}
\noindent\begin{tabular}{ABC}
left & center & right\\
wide left & wide center & wide right
\end{tabular}
\medskip
Some text here.
\medskip
\noindent\begin{tabular}{ABC}
left & center & right\\
\end{tabular}
\medskip
Some text here.
\medskip
\noindent\begin{tabular}{ABC}
very wide left & very wide center & very wide right\\
\end{tabular}
\end{document}
To make it easier to create new columns, I added \newcolumnwidth{<name>}{l/c/r} (which is itself rather ugly).
\newcommand{\newcolumnwidth}[2]% #1=new column type, #2=l/c/r
{\expandafter\newlength\csname Width#1\endcsname%
\AtEndDocument{\saveWidth{#1}}%
\newcolumntype{#1}{>{\savebox{\tempbox}\bgroup}{#2}<{\egroup%
\ifdim\wd\tempbox>\csname Width#1\endcsname \global\csname Width#1\endcsname=\wd\tempbox\fi%
\makebox[\csname Width#1\endcsname][#2]{\usebox\tempbox}}}}
\newcolumnwidth{A}{l}
\newcolumnwidth{B}{c}
\newcolumnwidth{C}{r}
The approach I would follow is similar to what is done inside the tabbing environment. You set a first row that defines the tab stops and then \kill that row so it doesn't show. Subsequent rows will use these tab stops without the first row being present.
\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\noindent
\begin{tabular}{l c r}
left & center & right \\
wide left & wide center & wide right
\end{tabular}
\medskip
Some text here.
\medskip
\noindent
\begin{tabular}{l c r}
\phantom{wide left} &
\phantom{wide center} &
\phantom{wide right} \\[-\normalbaselineskip]% Similar to \kill
left & center & right
\end{tabular}
\end{document}
The "\kill row" in the above example places the widest elements across both of your tables inside a \phantom, while the height of the row is removed using a newline of the form \\[-\normalbaselineskip].
If the content to be hidden is very tall, use \hphantom. If you're concerned about overprinting of vertical rules, don't use them (as suggested by the awesome booktabs) or insert each column element in the "\kill row" using \multicolumn{1}{l}{...} without vertical rules.
1emwithout increases from equations, multirow, or anything else? Either way: no. I'm looking for a robust solution which can handle anything.