# Column and row padding in tables

## Update

To clarify, I'm looking for a way to control both vertical and horizontal padding. So, if I had a simple table like in the following code snippet, I could pad the columns and make them look a bit less... ugly. :P

\begin{tabular}{|l|l|}
\hline
column 1 & column 2 \\
\hline
I really would like this less & crammed\\
\hline
\end{tabular}


I tried this by using the command \vspace but it leaves gaps in the vertical lines.

• Welcome to TeX.sx! Are you now talking about the horizontal distance between columns (which is what "column padding" is for me) or how to get vertical lines with booktabs? If might be easier if you post a minimal working example (MWE) that illustrates your problem. – Martin Scharrer Oct 15 '11 at 19:03
• Note that booktabs doesn't change how tabular environments are typeset, as long as one doesn't use the new commands provided by the package: vertical rules will touch the horizontal ones input as \hline or \cline. – egreg Oct 15 '11 at 19:43
• After looking for some help about this, my own fast and cheap approach is, just to share, using: \begin{tabular}{| c | c |} \hline \raisebox{8pt}{\phantom{M}}$\vec{p}=m_i\vec{v}$\raisebox{-8pt}{\phantom{M}} & \raisebox{8pt}{\phantom{M}}$\vec{L}=I\vec{\omega}$\raisebox{-8pt}{\phantom{M}}\\\hline \raisebox{8pt}{\phantom{M}}$\vec{F}=\frac{d}{dt}\vec{p}$\raisebox{-8pt}{\phantom{M}} & \raisebox{8pt}{\phantom{M}}$\vec{\tau}=\frac{d}{dt}\vec{L}$\raisebox{-8pt}{\phantom{M}}\\\hline \end{tabular} – Andrestand Jan 30 '14 at 11:03

Use a default tabular environment without package booktabs and add right before and after the environment:

\bgroup
\def\arraystretch{1.5}%  1 is the default, change whatever you need
\begin{tabular}{|c|...}
...
\end{tabular}
\egroup


and also use column type c instead of l, If you want more horizontal space between the columns then use \setlength\tabcolsep{<whatever length>}.

• This only answers the vertical stretch part of the question, it seems. – O. R. Mapper Jun 19 '13 at 8:07
• Also, what's the answer for the tabular environment? – gen Feb 3 '18 at 10:28
• It can also be used in the tabularx environment in the tabularx package – Vee Hua Zhi Sep 17 '18 at 3:07
• the \bgroup and \egroup are not strictly necessary, right? – Agile Bean Jul 13 at 9:16

The following suggestions are applicable to tabular- and array-like structures and for the most past applies to both text and math mode, including *matrix environments.

Vertical padding is possible in a global way using @Herbert's answer. That is, to redefine the array stretch factor <factor> using

\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{<factor>}


However, as the name suggests, this is a factor and not a length. So, it would be difficult to provide an adequate factor that would add (say) 15pt above/below each row. There are other options available for this.

Vertical padding is also possible in a manual way or on a per-row basis using the optional parameter to end a tabular line; \\[<len>] where <len> is any familiar TeX length. A final alternative is to use the set the length \extrarowheight provided by the array package.

Here's an example showing the above three possibilities:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[landscape]{geometry}% http://ctan.org/pkg/geometry
\usepackage{array}% http://ctan.org/pkg/array
\begin{document}

% =========== FACTOR approach ===========
{\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{2}%
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|}
\hline
column 1 & column 2 \\
\hline
I really would like this less & crammed \\
\hline
% =========== LENGTH approaches ===========
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|}
\hline
column 1 & column 2 \\[4ex]
\hline
I really would like this less & crammed \\[5pt]
\hline
{\setlength{\extrarowheight}{20pt}%
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|}
\hline
column 1 & column 2 \\
\hline
I really would like this less & crammed \\
\hline
\end{tabular}}
\end{document}


Note how the "factor" approach is more evenly distributed than the "length" approaches. This is to be expected. However, these techniques can also be combined, if needed. Also, the use of \\[<len>] provides "bottom padding", while setting \extrarowheight adds "top padding". Finally, note the grouping within the example: \renewcommand and \setlength are made local by putting is inside {...}. That is, the value/length of \arraystretch/\extrarowheight revert back to the original value before resetting it at the end of the group.

Similar approach to horizontal padding of columns exist. The use of tabularx or tabulary might be considered factor-based, as well as using \extracolsep{\fill}. However, these all pertain to fixed-width tables, with the first being addressed in @cmhughes' answer. Here is a description of tabulary usage, taken from the UK TeX FAQ entry on Fixed-width tables:

The tabulary package ... provides a way of "balancing" the space taken by the columns of a table. The package defines column specifications C, L, R and J, giving, respectively, centred, left, right and fully-justified versions of space-sharing columns. The package examines how long each column would be "naturally" (i.e., on a piece of paper of unlimited width), and allocates space to each column accordingly.

A length-based approach could include a per-column addition of a separate length using the @{...} "column specifier". Also, modifying the length \tabcolsep (or \arraycolsep if you're working with an array) would do this for all columns, and is therefore more generic. Finally, the array package also provides a means for insert stuff before a column entry and after it using >{<before>} and <{<after>}. Here are some examples:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[landscape]{geometry}% http://ctan.org/pkg/geometry
\usepackage{array}% http://ctan.org/pkg/array
\begin{document}
% =========== FACTOR approach ===========
\begin{tabular*}{500pt}{@{\extracolsep{\fill}}|l|l|}
\hline
column 1 & column 2 \\
\hline
I really would like this less & crammed \\
\hline
\end{tabular*}

\bigskip

% =========== LENGTH approaches ===========
\hline
column 1 & column 2 \\
\hline
I really would like this less & crammed \\
\hline
{\setlength{\tabcolsep}{2em}
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|}
\hline
column 1 & column 2 \\
\hline
I really would like this less & crammed \\
\hline
\end{tabular}}

\medskip

\begin{tabular}{|>{\hspace{1pc}}l|l<{\hspace{-2pt}}|}
\hline
column 1 & column 2 \\
\hline
I really would like this less & crammed \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{document}


Of course, if all columns should have the same specifier, using the "multiple column specifier" *{<num>}{<col spec>} is a better choice.

In the above examples, geometry was loaded to adjust for a possibly wide display.

Another way of regulating vertical padding would be to insert so-called (vertical) struts in the form of a zero-width rule (say). For example, using \rule{0pt}{2em}stuff inserts a 2em strut before stuff, thereby increasing the vertical height of the cell containing stuff. Similarly, padding below a cell could be achieved using \rule[-1em]{0pt}{1em}stuff which drops the strut 1em below the baseline.

The same goes for horizontal padding via zero-height struts.

• Thanks for mentioning \rule[]{}{}stuff; I find it the most helpful of all. – kavadias Jun 13 '17 at 23:15

This is an old question, but I've run into the same problem, and all these solutions seemed too complex for my needs, namely in respect to horizontal padding. Looking for a rapid solution similar to the one proposed above for vertical padding (\arraystretch), I've found \setlength{tabcolsep} to be a good candidate.

Applying it on the example, it would be:

\setlength{\tabcolsep}{0.5em} % for the horizontal padding
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|}
\hline
column 1 & column 2 \\
\hline
I really would like this less & crammed\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
}


and the following is the difference:

• I just saw that @Herbert and Werner talked about this possibility too (after Ctrl-F). I haven't caught it when I first looked at the page. At this point, this is just a shorter, more direct answer, for people in a hurry like me. :) – s1l3n0 Mar 13 '15 at 11:23
• Welcome to TeX.SX! This doesn't fully answer the question asked here. We have other questions for column sep lengths. Furthermore, the spacing shown in the first table of your screenshot is not the standard column sep, so something else in your document is affecting it. – Paul Gessler Mar 13 '15 at 11:24
• You're right, @PaulGessler. In my case, the problem is caused by the LNCS style, which I've forced to have better-looking tables. However, I found this page looking for 'padding' in the same sense it is used for CSS (~ internal margin within the div). I wrote my answer interpreting the question in these terms. Has it a different meaning in typography? – s1l3n0 Mar 13 '15 at 11:31
• I like the simplicity of this answer – Yan King Yin Apr 6 '19 at 14:23

Vertical padding There is one drawback using \arraystretch: the content of the cell is no more vertically centred, and for each table you have to determine the optimal value of \arraystretch. Another solution, not mentioned in the above link, is given by the cellspace package that ensures an adjustable minimal distance between the top of a row and the above row (\cellspacetoplimit) and between its bottom and the below row (\cellspacebottomlimit). You then have to prefix the columns format with the letter S (Sl, Sc, Sr, S{p{width}}, &c.). Choose the option [math] if you want it to work also in with the various matrix environments.

Edit:

In case you load the siunitx package, it defines the S column type for numbers aligned on the decimal dot, and takes care of the problem with cellspace, changing the prefix letter to the letter C. Furthermore, recent versions of cellspace let you choose the prefix letter as an option, in the following way: \usepackage[column= some letter]{cellspace}.

Here is an example which shows it works the same whatever be the height of the cell.

    \documentclass{article}

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[textheight = 24cm]{geometry}
\usepackage[font = sf, justification=raggedright]{caption}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{hhline}
\usepackage[math]{cellspace}
\cellspacetoplimit 4pt
\cellspacebottomlimit 4pt

\begin{document}

\begin{table}
\begin{minipage}[b]{0.35\textwidth}
\mbox{}\par
\caption{Cellspace solution\hfill\vspace{2.5\baselineskip}}
\begin{tabular}[b]{ >{\bfseries}l|*{6}{| >{$}Sc <{$}}}
0 & \textbf{1} & \textbf{2} & \textbf{3} & \textbf{4} & \textbf{5} & \textbf{6}\\
\hhline{=::======}
1  & \frac{1}{1} & \frac{1}{2} & \frac{1}{3} & \frac{1}{4} & \frac{1}{5} & \frac{1}{6} \\
\hhline{-||------}
2  & \frac{2}{1} & \frac{2}{2} & \frac{2}{3} & \frac{2}{4} & \frac{2}{5} & \frac{2}{6} \\
\hhline{-||------}
3  & \frac{3}{1} & \frac{3}{2} & \frac{3}{3} & \frac{3}{4} & \frac{3}{5} & \frac{3}{6} \\
\hhline{-||------}
4  & \frac{4}{1} & \frac{4}{2} & \frac{4}{3} & \frac{4}{4} & \frac{4}{5} & \frac{4}{6} \\
\hhline{-||------}
5  & \frac{5}{1} & \frac{5}{2} & \frac{5}{3} & \frac{5}{4} & \frac{5}{5} & \frac{5}{6} \\
\hhline{-||------}
6  & \frac{6}{1} & \frac{6}{2} & \frac{6}{3} & \frac{6}{4} & \frac{6}{5} & \frac{6}{6} \\
\end{tabular}
\end{minipage}
\everymath{\displaystyle}
\begin{tabular}[b]{ >{\bfseries}l|*{6}{| >{$}Sc <{$}}}
0 & \textbf{1} & \textbf{2} & \textbf{3} & \textbf{4} & \textbf{5} & \textbf{6}\\
\hhline{=::======}
1  & \frac{1}{1} & \frac{1}{2} & \frac{1}{3} & \frac{1}{4} & \frac{1}{5} & \frac{1}{6} \\
\hhline{-||------}
2  & \frac{2}{1} & \frac{2}{2} & \frac{2}{3} & \frac{2}{4} & \frac{2}{5} & \frac{2}{6} \\
\hhline{-||------}
3  & \frac{3}{1} & \frac{3}{2} & \frac{3}{3} & \frac{3}{4} & \frac{3}{5} & \frac{3}{6} \\
\hhline{-||------}
4  & \frac{4}{1} & \frac{4}{2} & \frac{4}{3} & \frac{4}{4} & \frac{4}{5} & \frac{4}{6} \\
\hhline{-||------}
5  & \frac{5}{1} & \frac{5}{2} & \frac{5}{3} & \frac{5}{4} & \frac{5}{5} & \frac{5}{6} \\
\hhline{-||------}
6  & \frac{6}{1} & \frac{6}{2} & \frac{6}{3} & \frac{6}{4} & \frac{6}{5} & \frac{6}{6} \\
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\mbox{}
\begin{table}
\begin{minipage}[b]{0.3\textwidth}
\mbox{}\par
\caption{Arraystretch solution\hfill\vspace{6pt}}
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.667}
\begin{tabular}[b]{ >{\bfseries}l|*{6}{| >{$}c <{$}}}
0 & \textbf{1} & \textbf{2} & \textbf{3} & \textbf{4} & \textbf{5} & \textbf{6}\\
\hhline{=::======}
1  & \frac{1}{1} & \frac{1}{2} & \frac{1}{3} & \frac{1}{4} & \frac{1}{5} & \frac{1}{6} \\
\hhline{-||------}
2  & \frac{2}{1} & \frac{2}{2} & \frac{2}{3} & \frac{2}{4} & \frac{2}{5} & \frac{2}{6} \\
\hhline{-||------}
3  & \frac{3}{1} & \frac{3}{2} & \frac{3}{3} & \frac{3}{4} & \frac{3}{5} & \frac{3}{6} \\
\hhline{-||------}
4  & \frac{4}{1} & \frac{4}{2} & \frac{4}{3} & \frac{4}{4} & \frac{4}{5} & \frac{4}{6} \\
\hhline{-||------}
5  & \frac{5}{1} & \frac{5}{2} & \frac{5}{3} & \frac{5}{4} & \frac{5}{5} & \frac{5}{6} \\
\hhline{-||------}
6  & \frac{6}{1} & \frac{6}{2} & \frac{6}{3} & \frac{6}{4} & \frac{6}{5} & \frac{6}{6} \\
\end{tabular}

\end{minipage}
\end{table}
\end{document}


The tabularx might also be useful to you. From the documentation

A new environment, tabularx, is defined, which takes the same arguments as tabular*, but modifies the widths of certain columns, rather than the inter column space, to set a table with the requested total width.

Below is a MWE- note that the different width specifications, 250pt and \textwidth, and the results.

\documentclass{report}

\usepackage{tabularx}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}
\centering
\begin{tabularx}{250pt}{|c|X|c|X|}
\hline
\multicolumn{2}{|c|}{Multicolumn entry}                 &   THREE   &   FOUR    \\\hline
one                 &  The width of
this column depends
on the width of the table   &  three    &           \\\hline
\end{tabularx}
\end{table}

\begin{table}
\centering
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{|c|X|c|X|}
\hline
\multicolumn{2}{|c|}{Multicolumn entry}                 &   THREE   &   FOUR    \\\hline
one                 &  The width of
this column depends
on the width of the table   &  three    &           \\\hline
\end{tabularx}
\end{table}

\end{document}


Vertical spacing inside tabular cells...

...seemed to be a secret to me, but now I found the following:

The vertical size of a tabular cell is at least \baselineskip. This is (by default) composed of:

1. height = 0.7\baselineskip and
2. depth = 0.3\baselineskip.

If the content of the cell exceeds these minimum height or depth, that tabular line gets increased vertical size. To know this behaviour was very essential to me when working with so-called vertical struts (see "alternative padding approaches" in this answer above).

An \hline command at the beginning of a (leftmost) cell places a horizontal line with height \arrayrulewidth above the cell. An \hline command in the (leftmost) cell of the next line is places below the cell. So \hline commands increase the total height of tabulars.

• Knowing this, one might increase cell height. But to decrease it, the implicit strut placed by TeX/LaTeX needs to be chopped. This can either be done via an \arraystretch factor below 1 or by setting the \strutbox manually, which allows for specialized height+depth - see this answer from Heiko Oberdiek! – tueftl Apr 3 '13 at 12:19

You might want to look at my cals tables package, which supports padding in cells and widths of border lines. See the demo PDF: http://mirrors.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/cals/examples/demo.pdf

I needed it for only one specific table and instead of changing how it works through the entirety of document I found that doing the following suited my needs:

\begin{table}
\centering
{\def\arraystretch{1.3}
\begin{tabularx}{0.75\textwidth}{clX}
\textbf{\#} & \textbf{User} & \textbf{Occupation}  \\ \hline
1 & Test Person 1 & Student \\
2 & Test Person 2 & Student \\
3 & Test Person 3 & Something \\ \hline
\end{tabularx}
}
\caption{Test Participants for the early Prototype}
\label{tab:testparticipants}
\end{table}


By using the {\def\arraystretch{1.3} ... something ...} you enclose that event within the curly brackets. Hope this helps someone else out there who doesn't need a complicated solution ;)

• This is exactly the same as Herbert's answer. In your instance (since you've wrapped the tabularx inside a table, you don't need the scope-limiting {...}. – Werner Jun 2 '16 at 14:34

I simply needed a bit of extra whitespace in the left-margins of a two-by-two table. After trying a number of these more complicated approaches and encountering problems, I settled on using the force space option — backslash space or \ — at the start of each new line. It's quick and dirty and wouldn't be appropriate for a complicated table but it did the trick for this little table and spares me the complications of new packages, new commands, potential conflicts, etc.

• You could have added this extra space in the column specification. By default, the white space next to a column is \tabcolsep (resulting in 2\tabcolsep between two columns). You can change the default using @{} next to that column. To add a space to the white space you could use @{\ \hspace{\tabcolsep}}. – Skillmon Apr 21 '18 at 21:12

My method is probably more of a trick which seems to work, rather than the actual generalised method explained by the experts earlier.

\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{|l l|}
\hline
\multicolumn{2}{|c|}{ }\\[-0.2cm]
column 1 & column 2 \\[0.2cm]
\hline
\multicolumn{2}{|c|}{ }\\[-0.2cm]
I really would like this less & crammed\\[0.2cm]
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{document}


Similar method for the table with vertical line divisions:

\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|}
\hline
\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{ }&\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{ }\\[-0.2cm]
column 1 & column 2 \\[0.2cm]
\hline
\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{ }&\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{ }\\[-0.2cm]
I really would like this less & crammed\\[0.2cm]
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{document}


I would say it's just a quick-fix to put in an empty line rather than a permanent solution, but it works. If you want you can make a quick command like

\newcommand{\needspace}{\multicolumn{2}{|c|}{ }\\[-0.2cm]}

to save time, but i think it's a personal choice. Hope it helps.