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How can I merge two cells into one cell in a table?

For example, I would like to merge the cell for "456" as follows.

expected table

\documentclass[journal]{IEEEtran}
\begin{document}

\begin{table}[h]
\captionof{table}{Test Table}
\label{tab:table_x} 
\noindent\begin{tabularx}{\columnwidth} { |
  c |
  c |
  >{\raggedright\arraybackslash}X |
}
  \hline
  \textbf{A} & \textbf{B} & \textbf{C}  \\
  \hline
  abc  & def & ghi \\
  \hline
  123  & 456 & mno \\
  \hline
   jkl  & 456 & 789 \\
  \hline
  xxx  & yyy & zzz \\
  \hline
\end{tabularx}
\end{table}

\end{document}

Current table:

current table

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2
  • Did you have a look at commands like \multicolumn and \multirow?
    – albert
    Commented Mar 17, 2023 at 11:22
  • Your current minimal code example isn't compilable. You're missing \usepackage{tabularx} and one package that defines \captionof (but please note that you don't need \captionof inside a table environment, \caption suffices there).
    – Skillmon
    Commented Mar 17, 2023 at 11:39

3 Answers 3

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If you want to do this in tabularx and with all those rules (I don't like them, they make a table look cluttered, not tidy or legible), I'd suggest using the packages hhline (gives better spacing than \cline) and multirow. I also used array and \extrarowheight to get better spacing to the horizontal rules (they are too close in default LaTeX).

\documentclass[journal]{IEEEtran}

\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{hhline}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{array}
\setlength\extrarowheight{1pt}

\begin{document}
\begin{table}[h]
\caption{Test Table\label{tab:table_x}}
\noindent\begin{tabularx}{\columnwidth} { |
  c |
  c |
  >{\raggedright\arraybackslash}X |
}
  \hline
  \textbf{A} & \textbf{B} & \textbf{C}  \\
  \hline
  abc  & def & ghi \\
  \hline
  123  &     & mno \\
  \hhline{|-|~|-|}
  jkl  & \multirow{-2}{*}[-.5\arrayrulewidth]{456} & 789 \\
  \hline
  xxx  & yyy & zzz \\
  \hline
\end{tabularx}
\end{table}
\end{document}

enter image description here

To get exactly the table you show in your image (more or less, that's not exactly the same spacing) don't use tabularx but a normal tabular:

\documentclass[journal]{IEEEtran}

\usepackage{hhline}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{array}
\setlength\extrarowheight{1pt}

\begin{document}
\begin{table}[h]
\centering
\caption{Test Table\label{tab:table_x}}
\begin{tabular}{ | c | c | c | }
  \hline
  \textbf{A} & \textbf{B} & \textbf{C}  \\
  \hline
  abc  & def & ghi \\
  \hline
  123  &     & mno \\
  \hhline{|-|~|-|}
  jkl  & \multirow{-2}{*}[-.5\arrayrulewidth]{456} & 789 \\
  \hline
  xxx  & yyy & zzz \\
  \hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\end{document}

enter image description here

What I'd use

Instead of vertical rules (and rules after each line) I'd use the booktabs rules. If I need to "merge" cells I'd put them in the first column (if applicable) and simply add \addlinespace after each block. Meaningful data (like numeric data) I'd not omit and merge cells, but repeat:

\documentclass[journal]{IEEEtran}

\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{booktabs}

\begin{document}
\begin{table}[h]
\centering
\caption{Test Table\label{tab:table_x}}
\begin{tabularx}{\columnwidth} { c c >{\raggedright\arraybackslash}X }
  \toprule
  \textbf{A} & \textbf{B} & \textbf{C}  \\
  \midrule
  abc  & def & ghi \\
       & 456 & mno \\
  \addlinespace
  jkl  & 456 & 789 \\
  \addlinespace
  xxx  & yyy & zzz \\
  \bottomrule
\end{tabularx}
\end{table}
\end{document}

enter image description here

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2
  • Hi @Skillmon, how to make the table with tabularx becomes more concise by deleting the white space area in column "C"? Thank you.
    – Nicholas TI
    Commented Mar 27, 2023 at 7:21
  • @NicholasTI The column with spec X is as wide as necessary to fill the width you specified in the first argument to tabularx (so in this case \columnwidth), if you want it to be narrower change \columnwidth to another value. If you want it just as narrow as necessary, change it to use l, c, or r (left, centre, or right aligned).
    – Skillmon
    Commented Mar 27, 2023 at 7:28
0

Your code is not really reproducible, since it has some errors (one package is missing). Have a look at my approximation:

\documentclass[journal]{IEEEtran}
\usepackage{multirow} % <-- added package
\usepackage{tabularx}
\begin{document}

\begin{table}[h]
\caption{Test Table}
\label{tab:table_x} 
\noindent\begin{tabularx}{\columnwidth} { |
  c |
  c |
  >{\raggedright\arraybackslash}X |
}
  \hline
  \textbf{A} & \textbf{B} & \textbf{C}  \\
  \hline
  abc  & def & ghi \\
  \hline
  123  & \multirow{2}{*}{456} & mno \\ % <-- merged cell
  \cline{1-1}\cline{3-3} % <-- added rule
  jkl  & & 789 \\ % <-- merged cell
  \hline
  xxx  & yyy & zzz \\
  \hline
\end{tabularx}
\end{table}

\end{document}

enter image description here

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0

You can do it very easily using new package tabularray.

\documentclass[journal]{IEEEtran}
\usepackage{tabularray}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}[h]
  \caption{Test Table}
  \label{tab:table_x}
  \centering
  \begin{tblr}{
      colspec = {QQQ},
      hlines,
      vlines,
      columns={c},
      rows={m},
      cell{3}{2} = {r=2,c=1}{c},
      row{1}={font=\bfseries},
    }
    A   & B   & C   \\
    abc & def & ghi \\
    123 & 456 & mno \\
    jkl & 456 & 789 \\
    xxx & yyy & zzz \\
  \end{tblr}

\end{table}


\end{document}

enter image description here

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