# \rowcolors not working with \multirow

Note: I know there were other people asking the same question here and here, but none of there examples were minimal, and I'm still confuzzled. Sorry for the inconvience.

I know I can do this:

%rowcolor-multirow-test.tex

\documentclass{report}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{multirow}

\definecolor{slg}{gray}{0.95}
% ^^ "super-light gray" -- the builtin 'lightgray' isn't light enough.
\begin{document}

Wrong: \\
\rowcolors{1}{white}{slg}
\begin{tabular}{c|c|c|c}
A & B & C & D \\
\multirow{2}{*}{Hello!} & foo & bar & 42 \\
& fooo & baar & 13 \\
\end{tabular}

\bigskip

Right:\\
\begin{tabular}{c|c|c|c}
A & B & C & D \\
& foo & bar & 42 \\
\multirow{-2}{*}{Hello!} & fooo & baar & 13 \\
% ^^ Put it on the odd rows and give it a negative number to span up.
\end{tabular}

\end{document}


To get this:

But how can I get this, preferably with the vertical lines intact?

(I cheated and colored the cells manually with \cellcolor[gray]{0.95})

pdfLaTeX 3.14159265-2.6-1.40.17 (MiKTeX 2.9)

A possible solution is by using the \cellcolor command inside the cell that you want to have a different color. Note that this is not the cell containing the \multirow command but the one above it that you need to place the command in.

\documentclass{report}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{multirow}

\definecolor{slg}{gray}{0.95}
\begin{document}

\rowcolors{1}{white}{slg}

Fixed:\\
\begin{tabular}{c|c|c|c}
A & B & C & D \\
\cellcolor{white} & foo & bar & 42 \\
\multirow{-2}{*}{Hello!} & fooo & baar & 13 \\
\end{tabular}
\end{document}


• What you wrote doesn't seem to match the image you put; I get all rows white. Changing white to lightgray Doesn't work either. – SIGSTACKFAULT Nov 23 '16 at 14:48
• The code is meant to work further on your example, i.e. it implies that you use the \rowcolors{1}{white}{slg} command. I have updated my answer for clarity – Herthog Nov 23 '16 at 14:50
• Ah. Thanks, works perfectly. Could this be made to be a run-once thing? – SIGSTACKFAULT Nov 23 '16 at 14:59
• What do you mean be a 'run-once thing'? – Herthog Nov 23 '16 at 15:00
• i.e., Do \xyzzy at the start of the table, does everything else automagically. Or would that be too shenanigans-y? – SIGSTACKFAULT Nov 23 '16 at 15:04

The latest version of nicematrix (v 5.8 of 2021-01-01) provides an easy way to do that.

\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{nicematrix}
\usepackage{xcolor}

\begin{document}

\begin{NiceTabular}{c|c|c|c}
\CodeBefore
\rowcolors[gray]{1}{}{0.95}[cols=2-*]
\Body
A & B & C & D \\
\Block{2-1}{Hello!} & foo & bar & 42 \\
& fooo & baar & 13 \\
\end{NiceTabular}

\end{document}


You need several compilations (because nicematrix uses PGF/Tikz nodes).