Table rowspan and colspan

Question

I need to create similar table using LaTeX:

I have tried to use \tabular and \multicolumn, but every time I get something wrong.

I want:

• Fixed width columns and fixed height rows;
• Centered cells (vertically and horizontally)
• Borders around each cell

Could someone help me?

Here is pure HTML markup:

<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
    <tr height="50">
        <td align="center" width="150" rowspan="2">State of Health</td>
        <td align="center" width="300" colspan="2">Fasting Value</td>
        <td align="center" width="150">After Eating</td>
    </tr>
    <tr height="50">
        <td align="center" width="150">Minimum</td>
        <td align="center" width="150">Maximum</td>
        <td align="center" width="150">2 hours after eating</td>
    </tr>
    <tr height="50">
        <td align="center" width="150">Healthy</td>
        <td align="center" width="150">70</td>
        <td align="center" width="150">100</td>
        <td align="center" width="150">Less than 140</td>
    </tr>
    <tr height="50">
        <td align="center" width="150">Pre-Diabetes</td>
        <td align="center" width="150">101</td>
        <td align="center" width="150">126</td>
        <td align="center" width="150">140 to 200</td>
    </tr>
    <tr height="50">
        <td align="center" width="150">Diabetes</td>
        <td align="center" width="150">More than 126</td>
        <td align="center" width="150">N/A</td>
        <td align="center" width="150">More than 200</td>
    </tr>
</table>

Answer 1

You could use the multirow package to organize the cell in the north-west corner of the table, and the tabularx package to automatically generate four columns of equal width. In the MWE below, the \newcolumntype instruction sets up a new column type, called "Y", that centers its contents. Adjust the value of the \arraystretch macro to get the amount of vertical stretching to your liking.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}
\usepackage{multirow,tabularx}
\newcolumntype{Y}{>{\centering\arraybackslash}X}
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{2}
\begin{document}\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{|*{4}{Y|}}
\hline
\multirow{2}{*}{State of Health} 
  &\multicolumn{2}{c|}{Fasting Value}&After Eating\\
\cline{2-4}
             &Minimum       &Maximum &2 hours after eating\\
\hline
Healthy      &70            &100     &Less than 140\\
\hline
Pre-Diabetes &101           &126     &140 to 200\\
\hline
Diabetes     &More than 126 &N/A     &More than 200\\
\hline
\end{tabularx}
\end{document}

Answer 2

The http://www.tablesgenerator.com/ site is helpful - it also knows about multicolumn.

More a comment than an answer, since this is likely to be aiming a clinical or scientific audience, tables should not have lines with a few exceptions. Referenced on Beautiful table samples I was very happy with https://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/markusp/teaching/guides/guide-tables.pdf .

Answer 3

For comparison, this is how you can typeset the same table in ConTeXt. (Notice the similarity between the HTML markup (had you used CSS) and the TeX markup).

\setuppapersize[A4,landscape]

\startsetups table:layout
  \setupTABLE
      [
        width=150pt,           % Fixed column width
        height=2\lineheight,   % Fixed row height
        align={middle,lohi},   % Middle aligned cells
        frame=on,              % Border around cells (default)
        offset=none,           % Equivalent to cellpadding=0
      ]
\stopsetups

\starttext

\bTABLE[setups=table:layout]
  \bTR
      \bTD[ny=2] State of Health \eTD
      \bTD[nx=2] Fasting Value   \eTD
      \bTD After Eating          \eTD
  \eTR
  \bTR
      \bTD Minimum \eTD
      \bTD Maximum \eTD
      \bTD 2 hours after eating \eTD
  \eTR

  \bTR
    \bTD Healthy       \eTD
    \bTD 70            \eTD
    \bTD 100           \eTD
    \bTD Less than 140 \eTD
  \eTR

  \bTR
    \bTD Pre-Diabetes \eTD
    \bTD 101          \eTD
    \bTD 126          \eTD
    \bTD 140 to 200   \eTD
  \eTR

  \bTR
    \bTD Diabetes      \eTD
    \bTD More than 126 \eTD
    \bTD N/A           \eTD
    \bTD More than 200 \eTD
  \eTR
\eTABLE
\stoptext

Answer 4

A solution with tabularray package:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=2mm]{geometry}
\usepackage{tabularray}
\begin{document}

\noindent
\begin{tblr}{
  hlines, vlines, % borders around each cell
  rowsep=0pt, colsep = 0pt,
  rows = {50pt}, columns = {150pt}, % fixed width columns and fixed height rows
  cells = {c,m}, % centered cells (vertically and horizontally)
  cell{1}{1} = {r=2}{}, % multirow
  cell{1}{2} = {c=2}{}, % multicolumn
}
State of Health & Fasting Value &         & After Eating         \\
                & Minimum       & Maximum & 2 hours after eating \\
Healthy         & 70            & 100     & Less than 140        \\
Pre-Diabetes    & 101           & 126     & 140 to 200           \\
Diabetes        & More than 126 & N/A     & More than 200        \\
\end{tblr}

\end{document}

Answer 5

A solution with {NiceTabular} of nicematrix.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=2mm]{geometry}
\usepackage{nicematrix}

\begin{document}

\noindent
\begin{NiceTabular}[hvlines]{>{\rule[-6mm]{0pt}{15mm}}X[c]X[c]X[c]X[c]}
\Block{2-1}{State of Health} 
                & \Block{1-2}{Fasting Value} 
                                &         & After Eating         \\
                & Minimum       & Maximum & 2 hours after eating \\
Healthy         & 70            & 100     & Less than 140        \\
Pre-Diabetes    & 101           & 126     & 140 to 200           \\
Diabetes        & More than 126 & N/A     & More than 200        \\
\end{NiceTabular}

\end{document}