How to keep a table on the same page?

Question

I have a report with many summary tables of regression output and converted them into tables using pander in the Rmarkdown document. Even though all tables are less than one page, they sometimes break and continue on two pages, which is hard to read.

I created the .tex file from .Rmd and converted longtabs to booktabs as a way but couldn't compile the document. Also, since there are so many tables, adding \pagebreak or \newpage is not an optimal solution either.

Here is a minimal example of the .Rmd file. The code here is to be pasted in a .Rmd file. How can I make the table be on the same page?

---
title: "Put tables on the same page"
author: "author"
date: May 16, 2020
output:
  pdf_document:
    extra_dependencies: ["lipsum"]
    number_sections: yes
    toc: yes
geometry: margin=1in
fontsize: 11pt
---


```{r setup, include=FALSE}

knitr::opts_chunk$set(echo = FALSE,
                      cache = TRUE,
                      #include = FALSE,
                      message = FALSE,
                      warning = FALSE,
                      error = TRUE,
                      fig.cap = " ",
                      number_sections = TRUE)
```
```{r}
library(tidyverse)
library(pander)
library(rmarkdown)
#panderOptions('keep.trailing.zeros', TRUE)
```


\lipsum[3-5]

```{r}
m5 = lm(log(Volume)~log(Girth)*log(Height)+Girth^2+Girth^3+Girth^4 + Height^2+Height^3+rnorm(31)+rpois(31, 1),data=trees)
pander(m5)
```

I don't know how to keep all the chunks intact in this code here. Sorry if that causes confusion. It is converting the markdown code to formatting.

% relevant lines for longtable package in the preamble of generated tex document and a sample table which breaks onto two pages but is short enough to be on one page.
\usepackage{longtable,booktabs}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\makeatletter
\patchcmd\longtable{\par}{\if@noskipsec\mbox{}\fi\par}{}{}
\makeatother
% Allow footnotes in longtable head/foot
\IfFileExists{footnotehyper.sty}{\usepackage{footnotehyper}}{\usepackage{footnote}}
\makesavenoteenv{longtable}


\begin{longtable}[]{@{}cccccl@{}}
\caption{Overall Model}\tabularnewline
\toprule
\begin{minipage}[b]{0.24\columnwidth}\centering
~\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[b]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
Estimate\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[b]{0.14\columnwidth}\centering
Std. Error\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[b]{0.11\columnwidth}\centering
z value\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[b]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
Pr(\textgreater\textbar z\textbar)\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[b]{0.09\columnwidth}\raggedright
\strut
\end{minipage}\tabularnewline
\midrule
\endfirsthead
\toprule
\begin{minipage}[b]{0.24\columnwidth}\centering
~\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[b]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
Estimate\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[b]{0.14\columnwidth}\centering
Std. Error\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[b]{0.11\columnwidth}\centering
z value\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[b]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
Pr(\textgreater\textbar z\textbar)\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[b]{0.09\columnwidth}\raggedright
\strut
\end{minipage}\tabularnewline
\midrule
\endhead
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.24\columnwidth}\centering
\textbf{(Intercept)}\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
-14.89\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.14\columnwidth}\centering
0.038\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.11\columnwidth}\centering
-393.9\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
0\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.09\columnwidth}\raggedright
* * *\strut
\end{minipage}\tabularnewline
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.24\columnwidth}\centering
\textbf{var1}\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
-0.084\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.14\columnwidth}\centering
0.035\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.11\columnwidth}\centering
-2.383\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
0.017\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.09\columnwidth}\raggedright
*\strut
\end{minipage}\tabularnewline
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.24\columnwidth}\centering
\textbf{var2}\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
0.016\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.14\columnwidth}\centering
0.001\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.11\columnwidth}\centering
11.93\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
0\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.09\columnwidth}\raggedright
* * *\strut
\end{minipage}\tabularnewline
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.24\columnwidth}\centering
\textbf{var10}\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
0.158\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.14\columnwidth}\centering
0.051\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.11\columnwidth}\centering
3.096\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
0.002\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.09\columnwidth}\raggedright
* *\strut
\end{minipage}\tabularnewline
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.24\columnwidth}\centering
\textbf{var3}\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
0.058\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.14\columnwidth}\centering
0.013\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.11\columnwidth}\centering
4.296\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
0\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.09\columnwidth}\raggedright
* * *\strut
\end{minipage}\tabularnewline
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.24\columnwidth}\centering
\textbf{var4}\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
-0.169\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.14\columnwidth}\centering
0.053\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.11\columnwidth}\centering
-3.209\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
0.001\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.09\columnwidth}\raggedright
* *\strut
\end{minipage}\tabularnewline
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.24\columnwidth}\centering
\textbf{var5}\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
0.28\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.14\columnwidth}\centering
0.054\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.11\columnwidth}\centering
5.199\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
0\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.09\columnwidth}\raggedright
* * *\strut
\end{minipage}\tabularnewline
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.24\columnwidth}\centering
\textbf{var11}\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
0.167\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.14\columnwidth}\centering
0.026\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.11\columnwidth}\centering
6.467\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
0\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.09\columnwidth}\raggedright
* * *\strut
\end{minipage}\tabularnewline
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.24\columnwidth}\centering
\textbf{var6}\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
0.245\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.14\columnwidth}\centering
0.036\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.11\columnwidth}\centering
6.792\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.12\columnwidth}\centering
0\strut
\end{minipage} & \begin{minipage}[t]{0.09\columnwidth}\raggedright
* * *\strut
\end{minipage}\tabularnewline
\bottomrule
\end{longtable}

Answer 1

Here is an improved version of your table. I have remove all unnecessary code clutter and added the siunitx package to improve the alignment of the numbers.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{longtable,booktabs}
\usepackage{caption}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\centering
\caption{Overall Model}\label{key}
\begin{tabular}[]{@{}>{\bfseries}lS[table-format=-2.3]S[table-format=1.3]S[table-format=-3.3]S[table-format=1.3]l@{}}
\toprule
 & {Estimate} & {Std. Error} & {z value} & {Pr(\textgreater\textbar z\textbar)} \\
\midrule
(Intercept) & -14.89 & 0.038 & -393.9 & 0     & * * * \\
var1        & -0.084 & 0.035 & -2.383 & 0.017 & *     \\
var2        & 0.016  & 0.001 & 11.93  & 0     & * * * \\
var10       & 0.158  & 0.051 & 3.096  & 0.002 & * *   \\
var3        & 0.058  & 0.013 & 4.296  & 0     & * * * \\
var4        & -0.169 & 0.053 & -3.209 & 0.001 & * *   \\
var5        & 0.28   & 0.054 & 5.199  & 0     & * * * \\
var11       & 0.167  & 0.026 & 6.467  & 0     & * * * \\
var6        & 0.245  & 0.036 & 6.792  & 0     & * * * \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\end{document}

Answer 2

I suggest that you use kable or xtable rather than pander. You will get a table formatted using standard LaTeX syntax and lets you invoke all the kable or xtable formatting capabilities. The following simple .Rmd file is adapted from here: Prettier Result Table With broom And knitr. It does the following:

1. Fit a linear model to the cars data
2. Tidies the model output
3. Formats the model output as a LaTeX table.

Specifically regarding your question about not floating the table, the example sets the table float with [H], so that it does not float at all. This is done with the kable_styling function from kableExtra. If you have a longtable, just add that option to kable().

This is the output from knitting the .Rmd file:

This is the Rmd file:

---
title: "TeX.SE"
output: 
   pdf_document:
     keep_tex: true
header-includes:
   - \usepackage{caption}
   - \usepackage{booktabs}
---

```{r setup, include=FALSE}
knitr::opts_chunk$set(echo = TRUE)
options(tinytex.clean = FALSE)
```

## Fit the model

```{r cars}
lmfit <- lm(mpg ~ wt, mtcars)
lmfit
```

## Cleanup model output and format table

Use \texttt{broom}'s \texttt{tidy} function to create a data frame of the model output and output that dataframe using \texttt{knitr}'s \texttt{kable} function: 

```{r output}
library(broom)        # tidyr
library(magrittr)     # %>%

library(knitr)        # kable
library(kableExtra)   # kable_styling
tidy(lmfit) %>% kable(format="latex",booktabs=TRUE,
                      caption="My table caption",digits=2) %>% 
                kable_styling(latex_options = "HOLD_position")
```
\raggedright Add \texttt{longtable} to \texttt{kable} as required. For example: \par\texttt{kable(longtable=TRUE, format="latex", booktabs=TRUE, caption="My table caption")}

This is the LaTeX code for the table of regression parameters extracted from the .tex file created by compiling the .Rmd file.

\begin{table}[H]
\caption{\label{tab:output}My table caption}
\centering
\begin{tabular}[t]{lrrrr}
\toprule
term & estimate & std.error & statistic & p.value\\
\midrule
(Intercept) & 37.29 & 1.88 & 19.86 & 0\\
wt & -5.34 & 0.56 & -9.56 & 0\\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

As you can see, it is just regular LaTeX code with the [H] option applied for table placement.