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8.5.1 Multitable Column Widths

You can define the column widths for a multitable in two ways: as fractions of the line length; or with a prototype row. Mixing the two methods is not supported. In either case, the widths are defined entirely on the same line as the @multitable command.

1. To specify column widths as fractions of the line length, write @columnfractions and the decimal numbers (presumably less than 1; a leading zero is allowed and ignored) after the @multitable command, as in:

   @multitable @columnfractions .33 .33 .33
   

   The fractions need not add up exactly to 1.0, as these do not. This allows you to produce tables that do not need the full line length.

   When using @columnfractions, the leftmost column may appear slightly wider than you might expect, relative to the other columns. This is due to spacing between columns being included in the width of the other columns.

2. To specify a prototype row, write the longest entry for each column enclosed in braces after the @multitable command. For example:

   @multitable {some text for column one} {for column two}
   

   The first column will then have the width of the typeset ‘some text for column one’, and the second column the width of ‘for column two’.

   The prototype entries need not appear in the table itself.

   Although we used simple text in this example, the prototype entries can contain Texinfo commands; markup commands such as @code are particularly likely to be useful.