Using a caption label as a title

Question

I have done some searching but not had much luck. I would like to be able to see and use the label of my caption as a 'title' for the caption text.

An example:

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage{textcomp}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{relsize}
\usepackage{tabu}
\usepackage{booktabs}

\usepackage[
justification=justified,
labelfont=bf,
textfont=small,
textfont=it,
labelsep=newline]{caption}


\begin{document}

\listoftables

\begin{table}
\centering
\footnotesize

\sffamily{

\begin{tabu} to 
\textwidth {lrl}
\toprule
&    15,639 patients \\
\midrule
Age (yrs)&     70.0&(18.0--104.0)\\
Male sex&    8,113&(51.9)\\
CCMDS Level of Care&&\\
\hspace*{1em}\smaller[1]{High dependency}&    2,708&(17.3)\\
Nursing observations&&\\
\hspace*{1em}\smaller[1]{Continuous monitoring}&    4,497&(28.8)\\
\hspace*{1em}\smaller[1]{Up to 4 hrly (inclusive)}&    7,435&(47.5)\\
\hspace*{1em}\smaller[1]{Less frequently than 12 hrly}&    2,080&(13.3)\\
Delayed referral to critical care&    2,012&(12.9)\\
Reported sepsis diagnosis&&\\
\hspace*{1em}\smaller[1]{Likely}&    5,741&(36.7)\\
\hspace*{1em}\smaller[1]{Unlikely}&    4,232&(27.1)\\
\bottomrule
\end{tabu} 

} 

\caption[Baseline characteristics]{All study patients. Numbers are mean(SD), or median(IQR)}

\label{baseline_pt_chars} 
\normalfont
\end{table}
\end{document}


\usepackage[labelfont=bf]{caption}
\begin{table}
... table code here ....
\caption[Baseline characteristics]{All study patients. Numbers are mean(SD), or median(IQR)} 
\end{table}

And for this to be formatted as

Table 1: Baseline characteristics All study patients. Numbers are mean(SD), or median(IQR)

Is this possible? Or should I just manually code all the formatting outside of the caption but inside the float environment ... which would mean writing the label twice (once for the caption and the list of tables, and once inside the float environment)?

I hope the question is clear?

Answer 1

My suggestion is to define a new command for the purpose:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[labelfont=bf]{caption}
\newcommand{\tablecaption}[2]{\caption[#1]{\textbf{#1} #2}}
\begin{document}
\listoftables

\section{Something}

\begin{table}[htp]
... table code here ....
\tablecaption{Baseline characteristics}{All study patients. Numbers are mean (SD), or median (IQR)}
\end{table}
\end{document}

Redefining \caption would mean having the same behavior also for figures.

It's possible to use the same syntax as \caption and the same command name; but since the optional argument becomes mandatory, I believe the solution with the new command is preferable. Anyhow, here it is:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[labelfont=bf]{caption}

\usepackage{letltxmacro}
\AtBeginDocument{% caption does its business here
  \LetLtxMacro{\captioncaption}{\caption}
  \renewcommand{\caption}[2][]{\captioncaption[#1]{\textbf{#1} #2}}
}

\begin{document}
\listoftables

\section{Something}

\begin{table}[htp]
... table code here ....
\caption[Baseline characteristics]{All study patients. Numbers are mean (SD), or median (IQR)}
\end{table}
\end{document}

If the "optional" argument may be missing from some captions, we have to do it in a slight different way:

\usepackage{letltxmacro}
\AtBeginDocument{% caption does its business here
  \LetLtxMacro{\captioncaption}{\caption}
  \renewcommand{\caption}[2][]{%
     \if\relax\detokenize{#1}\relax
       % Missing optional argument
       \captioncaption{#2}%
     \else
       % The optional argument is specified
       \captioncaption[#1]{\textbf{#1} #2}%
     \fi}
}