NAME

LaTeX::Table - Perl extension for the automatic generation of LaTeX tables.

VERSION

This document describes LaTeX::Table version 1.0.6

SYNOPSIS

use LaTeX::Table;
use Number::Format qw(:subs);  # use mighty CPAN to format values

my $header = [
    [ 'Item:2c', '' ],
    [ '\cmidrule(r){1-2}' ],
    [ 'Animal', 'Description', 'Price' ],
];

my $data = [
    [ 'Gnat',      'per gram', '13.65'   ],
    [ '',          'each',      '0.0173' ],
    [ 'Gnu',       'stuffed',  '92.59'   ],
    [ 'Emu',       'stuffed',  '33.33'   ],
    [ 'Armadillo', 'frozen',    '8.99'   ],
];

my $table = LaTeX::Table->new(
	{   
      filename    => 'prices.tex',
      maincaption => 'Price List',
      caption     => 'Try our special offer today!',
      label       => 'table:prices',
      position    => 'tbp',
      header      => $header,
      data        => $data,
	}
);

# write LaTeX code in prices.tex
$table->generate();

# callback functions help you to format values easily (as
# a great alternative to LaTeX packages like rccol)
#
# Here, the first colum and the header is printed in upper
# case and the third colum is formatted with format_price()
$table->set_callback(sub { 
     my ($row, $col, $value, $is_header ) = @_;
     if ($col == 0 || $is_header) {
         $value = uc $value;
     }
     elsif ($col == 2 && !$is_header) {
         $value = format_price($value, 2, '');
     }
     return $value;
});     

print $table->generate_string();

Now in your LaTeX document:

\documentclass{article}

% for multi-page tables (xtab or longtable)
\usepackage{xtab}
%\usepackage{longtable}

% for publication quality tables (Meyrin theme, the default)
\usepackage{booktabs}
% for the NYC theme 
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{colortbl}
\usepackage{xcolor}

\begin{document}
\input{prices}
\end{document}

DESCRIPTION

LaTeX makes professional typesetting easy. Unfortunately, this is not entirely true for tables and the standard LaTeX table macros have a rather limited functionality. This module supports many CTAN packages and hides the complexity of using them behind an easy and intuitive API.

FEATURES

This module supports multi-page tables via the xtab or the longtable package. For publication quality tables, it uses the booktabs package. It also supports the tabularx and tabulary packages for nicer fixed-width tables. Furthermore, it supports the colortbl package for colored tables optimized for presentations. The powerful new ctable package is supported and especially recommended when footnotes are needed. LaTeX::Table ships with some predefined, good looking "THEMES". The program ltpretty makes it possible to use this module from within a text editor.

INTERFACE

my $table = LaTeX::Table->new($arg_ref)

Constructs a LaTeX::Table object. The parameter is an hash reference with options (see below).

$table->generate()

Generates the LaTeX table code. The generated LaTeX table can be included in a LaTeX document with the \input command:

% include prices.tex, generated by LaTeX::Table 
\input{prices}

$table->generate_string()

Same as generate() but instead of creating a LaTeX file, this returns the LaTeX code as string.

my $latexcode = $table->generate_string();

$table->get_available_themes()

Returns an hash reference to all available themes. See "THEMES" for details.

for my $theme ( keys %{ $table->get_available_themes } ) {
  ...
}

$table->search_path( add => "MyThemes" );

LaTeX::Table will search under the LaTeX::Table::Themes:: namespace for themes. You can add here an additional search path. Inherited from Module::Pluggable.

OPTIONS

Options can be defined in the constructor hash reference or with the setter set_optionname. Additionally, getters of the form get_optionname are created.

BASIC OPTIONS

filename

The name of the LaTeX output file. Default is 'latextable.tex'.

type

Can be 'std' (default) for standard LaTeX tables, 'ctable' for tables using the ctable package or 'xtab' and 'longtable' for multi-page tables (requires the xtab and longtable LaTeX packages, respectively).

header

The header. It is a reference to an array (the rows) of array references (the columns).

$table->set_header([ [ 'Animal', 'Price' ] ]);

will produce following header:

+--------+-------+
| Animal | Price |
+--------+-------+

Here an example for a multirow header:

$table->set_header([ [ 'Animal', 'Price' ], ['', '(roughly)' ] ]);

This code will produce this header:

+--------+-----------+
| Animal |   Price   |
|        | (roughly) |
+--------+-----------+

Single column rows that start with a backslash are treated as LaTeX commands and are not further formatted. So,

my $header = [
    [ 'Item:2c', '' ],
    ['\cmidrule{1-2}'],
    [ 'Animal', 'Description', 'Price' ]
];

will produce following LaTeX code in the Zurich theme:

\multicolumn{2}{c}{\textbf{Item}} &                                          \\ 
\cmidrule{1-2}
\textbf{Animal}                   & \multicolumn{1}{c}{\textbf{Description}} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{\textbf{Price}}\\

Note that there is no \multicolumn, \textbf or \\ added to the second row.

data

The data. Once again a reference to an array (rows) of array references (columns).

$table->set_data([ [ 'Gnu', '92.59' ], [ 'Emu', '33.33' ] ]);

And you will get a table like this:

+-------+---------+
| Gnu   |   92.59 |
| Emu   |   33.33 |
+-------+---------+

An empty column array will produce a horizontal rule (line):

$table->set_data([ [ 'Gnu', '92.59' ], [], [ 'Emu', '33.33' ] ]);

Now you will get such a table:

+-------+---------+
| Gnu   |   92.59 |
+-------+---------+
| Emu   |   33.33 |
+-------+---------+

This works also in header.

Single column rows starting with a backslash are again printed without any formatting. So,

$table->set_data([ [ 'Gnu', '92.59' ], ['\hline'], [ 'Emu', '33.33' ] ]);

is equivalent to the example above (except that there always the correct rule command is used, i.e. \midrule vs. \hline).

custom_template

The table types listed above use the Template toolkit internally. These type templates are very flexible and powerful, but you can also provide a custom template:

# Returns the header and data formatted in LaTeX code. Nothing else.
$table->set_custom_template('[% HEADER_CODE %][% DATA_CODE %]');

See LaTeX::Table::Types::TypeI.

FLOATING TABLES

environment

If get_environment() returns a true value, then a floating environment will be generated. For std tables, the default environment is 'table'. A true value different from '1' will be used as environment name. Default is 1 (use a 'table' environment).

The non-floating xtab and longtable environments are mandatory (get_environment() must return a true value here) and support all options in this section except for position.

The ctable type automatically adds an environment when any of the following options are set.

caption

The caption of the table. Only generated if get_caption() returns a true value. Default is 0. Requires environment.

caption_top

If get_caption_top() returns a true value, then the caption is placed above the table. To use the standard caption command (\caption in std and longtable, \topcaption in xtab) , use

...
caption_top => 1, 
...

You can specify an alternative command here:

...
caption_top => 'topcaption', # would require the topcapt package

Or even multiple commands:

caption_top =>
   '\setlength{\abovecaptionskip}{0pt}\setlength{\belowcaptionskip}{10pt}\caption',
...

Default 0 (caption below the table) because the spacing in the standard LaTeX macros is optimized for bottom captions. At least for multi-page tables, however, top captions are highly recommended. You can use the caption LaTeX package to fix the spacing:

\usepackage[tableposition=top]{caption}

maincaption

If get_maincaption() returns a true value, then this value will be displayed in the table listing (\listoftables) and before the caption. For example,

maincaption => 'Price List',
caption     => 'Try our special offer today!',

will generate

\caption[Price List]{Price List. Try our special offer today!}

Themes can set the font family of the maincaption.

Default 0. Requires environment.

shortcaption

Same as maincaption, but does not appear in the caption, only in the table listing. Default 0. Requires environment.

continued

If true, then the table counter will be decremented by one and the continuedmsg is appended to the caption. Useful for splitting tables. Default 0.

$table->set_continued(1);

continuedmsg

If get_continued() returns a true value, then this text is appended to the caption. Default '(continued)'.

center, right, left

Defines how the table is aligned in the available textwidth. Default is centered. Requires environment. Only one of these options may return a true value.

# don't generate any aligning code
$table->set_center(0);
...
# restore default
$table->clear_center();

label

The label of the table. Only generated if get_label() returns a true value. Default is 0. Requires environment.

$table->set_label('tbl:prices');

position

The position of the environment, e.g. 'tbp'. Only generated if get_position() returns a true value. Default 0. Requires environment and tables of type std or ctable.

sideways

Rotates the environment by 90 degrees. Default 0. For tables of type std and ctable, this requires the rotating LaTeX package, for xtab or longtable tables the lscape package.

$table->set_sideways(1);

star

Use the starred versions of the environments, which place the float over two columns when the twocolumn option or the \twocolumn command is active. Default 0.

$table->set_star(1);

fontfamily

Valid values are 'rm' (Roman, serif), 'sf' (Sans-serif), 'tt' (Monospace or typewriter) and 0. Default is 0 (does not define a font family). Requires environment.

fontsize

Valid values are 'tiny', 'scriptsize', 'footnotesize', 'small', 'normal', 'large', 'Large', 'LARGE', 'huge', 'Huge' and 0. Default is 0 (does not define a font size). Requires environment.

TABULAR ENVIRONMENT

custom_tabular_environment

If get_custom_tabular_environment() returns a true value, then this specified environment is used instead of the standard environments 'tabular' (std) 'longtable' (longtable) or 'xtabular' (xtab). For xtab tables, you can also use the 'mpxtabular' environment here if you need footnotes. See the documentation of the xtab package.

See also the documentation of width below for cases when a width is specified.

coldef

The table column definition, e.g. 'lrcr' which would result in:

\begin{tabular}{lrcr}
..

If unset, LaTeX::Table tries to guess a good definition. Columns containing only numbers are right-justified, others left-justified. Columns with cells longer than 30 characters are p (paragraph) columns of size '5cm' (X columns when the tabularx, L when the tabulary package is selected). These rules can be changed with set_coldef_strategy(). Default is 0 (guess good definition). The left-hand column, the stub, is normally excluded here and is always left aligned. See LaTeX::Table::Themes::ThemeI.

coldef_strategy

Controls the behavior of the coldef calculation when get_coldef() does not return a true value. It is a reference to a hash that contains regular expressions that define the types of the columns. For example, the standard types NUMBER and LONG are defined as:

{
  NUMBER                =>
     qr{\A\s*([+-]?)(?=\d|\.\d)\d*(\.\d*)?([Ee]([+-]?\d+))?\s*\z}xms,
  NUMBER_MUST_MATCH_ALL => 1,
  NUMBER_COL            => 'r',
  LONG                  => qr{\A\s*(?=\w+\s+\w+).{29,}?\S}xms,
  LONG_MUST_MATCH_ALL   => 0,
  LONG_COL              => 'p{5cm}',
  LONG_COL_X            => 'X',
  LONG_COL_Y            => 'L',
};

TYPE => $regex

New types are defined with the regular expression $regex. All cells that match this regular expression have type TYPE. A cell can have multiple types. The name of a type is not allowed to contain underscores (_).

TYPE_MUST_MATCH_ALL

This defines if whether a column has type TYPE when all cells are of type TYPE or at least one. Default is 1 ($regex must match all).

Note that columns can have only one type. Types are applied alphabetically, so for example a LONG NUMBER column has as final type NUMBER.

TYPE_COL

The coldef attribute for TYPE columns. Required (no default value).

TYPE_COL_X, TYPE_COL_Y

Same as TYPE_COL but for tabularx or tabulary tables. If undefined, the attribute defined in TYPE_COL is used.

DEFAULT_COL, DEFAULT_COL_X, DEFAULT_COL_Y

The coldef attribute for columns that do not match any specified type. Default 'l' (left-justified).

MISSING_VALUE => $regex

Column values that match the specified regular expression are omitted in the coldef calculation. Default is qr{\A \s* \z}xms.

Examples:

# change standard types
$table->set_coldef_strategy({
  NUMBER   => qr{\A \s* \d+ \s* \z}xms, # integers only
  LONG_COL => '>{\raggedright\arraybackslash}p{7cm}', # non-justified
});

# add new types (here: columns that contain only URLs)
$table->set_coldef_strategy({
  URL     => qr{\A \s* http }xms, 
  URL_COL => '>{\ttfamily}l',
});

width

If get_width() returns a true value, then LaTeX::Table will use the starred version of the environment (e.g. tabular* or xtabular*) and will add the specified width as second parameter. It will also add @{\extracolsep{\fill}} to the table column definition:

# use 75% of textwidth 
$table->set_width('0.75\textwidth');

This will produce following LaTeX code:

\begin{tabular*}{0.75\textwidth}{l@{\extracolsep{\fill} ... }

For tables of type std, it is also possible to use the tabularx and tabulary LaTeX packages (see width_environment below). The tables of type ctable automatically use the tabularx package. See also width_environment for how to use this feature with longtable.

width_environment

If get_width() (see above) returns a true value and table is of type std, then this option provides the possibility to add a custom tabular environment that supports a table width:

\begin{environment}{width}{def}

To use for example the one provided by the tabularx LaTeX package, write:

# use the tabularx package (for a std table)
$table->set_width('300pt');
$table->set_width_environment('tabularx');

Note this will not add @{\extracolsep{\fill}} and that this overwrites a custom_tabular_environment.

It is possible to use tabularx together with tables of type longtable. In this case, you have to generate a file and then load the table with the LTXtable command (ltxtable package):

 $table = LaTeX::Table->new(
     {   filename    => 'mylongtable.tex'
         type        => 'longtable',
         ...
         width_environment => 'tabularx', 
     }
 );

Then in LaTeX:

\LTXtable{0.8\textwidth}{mylongtable}

Note that we have to do the specification of the width in LaTeX.

Default is 0 (see width).

maxwidth

Only supported by tables of type ctable.

eor

String specifying the end of a row. Default is '\\'.

$table->set_eor("\\\\[1em]");

Callback functions (see below) can be used to manually set the eor after the last column. This is useful when some rows require different eor strings.

callback

If get_callback() returns a true value and the return value is a code reference, then this callback function will be called for every column in header and data. The return value of this function is then printed instead of the column value.

The passed arguments are $row, $col (both starting with 0), $value and $is_header.

use LaTeX::Encode;
use Number::Format qw(:subs);  
...

# rotate header (not the first column),
# use LaTeX::Encode to encode LaTeX special characters,
# format the third column with Format::Number (only the data)
my $table = LaTeX::Table->new(
    {   header   => $header,
        data     => $data,
        callback => sub {
            my ( $row, $col, $value, $is_header ) = @_;
            if ( $col != 0 && $is_header ) {
                  $value = '\begin{sideways}' . $value . '\end{sideways}';
            }
            elsif ( $col == 2 && !$is_header ) {
                $value = format_price($value, 2, '');
            }
            else {
                $value = latex_encode($value);
            }
            return $value;
        },
    }
);

foottable

Only supported by tables of type ctable. The footnote \tnote commands. See the documentation of the ctable LaTeX package.

$table->set_foottable('\tnote{footnotes are placed under the table}');

resizebox

If get_resizebox() returns a true value, then the resizebox command is used to resize the table. Takes as argument a reference to an array. The first element is the desired width. If a second element is not given, then the height is set to a value so that the aspect ratio is still the same. Requires the graphicx LaTeX package. Default 0.

$table->set_resizebox([ '0.6\textwidth' ]);

$table->set_resizebox([ '300pt', '200pt' ]);

MULTI-PAGE TABLES

tableheadmsg

When get_caption_top() and get_tableheadmsg() both return true values, then additional captions are printed on the continued pages. Default caption text is 'Continued from previous page'.

tabletailmsg

Message at the end of a multi-page table. Default is 'Continued on next page'. When using caption_top, this is in most cases unnecessary and it is recommended to omit the tabletail (see below).

tabletail

Custom table tail. Default is multicolumn with the tabletailmsg (see above) right-justified.

# don't add any tabletail code:
$table->set_tabletail(q{});

tablelasttail

Same as tabletail, but defines only the bottom of the last page ('lastfoot' in the longtable package). Default ''.

xentrystretch

Option for xtab. Play with this option if the number of rows per page is not optimal. Requires a number as parameter. Default is 0 (does not use this option).

$table->set_xentrystretch(-0.1);

THEMES

theme

The name of the theme. Default is Meyrin (requires booktabs LaTeX package).

See LaTeX::Table::Themes::ThemeI how to define custom themes.

The themes are defined in LaTeX::Table::Themes::Beamer, LaTeX::Table::Themes::Booktabs, LaTeX::Table::Themes::Classic, LaTeX::Table::Themes::Modern.

$table->set_theme('Zurich');

predef_themes

All predefined themes. Getter only.

custom_themes

All custom themes. See LaTeX::Table::Themes::ThemeI.

columns_like_header

Takes as argument a reference to an array with column ids (again, starting with 0). These columns are formatted like header columns.

# a "transposed" table ...
my $table = LaTeX::Table->new(
    {   data     => $data,
        columns_like_header => [ 0 ], }
);

MULTICOLUMNS

Multicolumns are defined in LaTeX with \multicolumn{$cols}{$alignment}{$text}. This module supports a simple shortcut of the format $text:$cols$alignment. For example, Item:2c is equivalent to \multicolumn{2}{c}{Item}. Note that vertical rules (|) are automatically added here according the rules settings in the theme. See LaTeX::Table::Themes::ThemeI. LaTeX::Table also uses this shortcut to determine the column ids. So in this example,

my $data = [ [' \multicolumn{2}{c}{A}', 'B' ], [ 'C:2c', 'D' ] ];

'B' would have an column id of 1 and 'D' 2 ('A' and 'C' both 0). This is important for callback functions and for the coldef calculation. See "TABULAR ENVIRONMENT".

EXAMPLES

See examples/examples.pdf in this distribution for a short tutorial that covers the main features of this module. See also the example application csv2pdf for an example of the common task of converting a CSV (or Excel) file to LaTeX or even PDF.

DIAGNOSTICS

If you get a LaTeX error message, please check whether you have included all required packages. The packages we use are array, booktabs, colortbl, ctable, graphicx, longtable, lscape, rotating, tabularx, tabulary, xcolor and xtab.

LaTeX::Table may throw one of these errors:

IO error: Can't ...: In method generate(), it was not possible to write the LaTeX code to filename.
Invalid usage of option ...: In method generate() or generate_string(). See the examples in this document and in examples/examples.pdf for the correct usage of this option.
Attribute (option) ...: In method new() or set_option(). You passed a wrong type to the option. See this document or examples/examples.pdf for the correct usage of this option.

CONFIGURATION AND ENVIRONMENT

LaTeX::Table requires no configuration files or environment variables.

DEPENDENCIES

Carp, Module::Pluggable, Moose, English, Scalar::Util, Template

BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

The width option causes problems with themes using the colortbl package. You may have to specify here the overhang arguments of the \columcolor commands manually. Patches are of course welcome.

Problems with the width option are also known for tables of type longtable. You should use the tabularx package as described in the width_environment documentation.

Please report any bugs or feature requests to bug-latex-table@rt.cpan.org, or through the web interface at http://rt.cpan.org.

CREDITS

ANDREWF, ANSGAR and REHSACK for some great patches and suggestions.
David Carlisle for the colortbl, longtable, ltxtable, tabularx and tabulary LaTeX packages.
Wybo Dekker for the ctable LaTeX package.
Simon Fear for the booktabs LaTeX package. The "SYNOPSIS" table is the example in his documentation.
Lapo Filippo Mori for the excellent tutorial Tables in LaTeX2e: Packages and Methods.
Peter Wilson for the xtab LaTeX package.

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. See perlartistic.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

BECAUSE THIS SOFTWARE IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE SOFTWARE, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE SOFTWARE "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE SOFTWARE PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR, OR CORRECTION.

IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE SOFTWARE AS PERMITTED BY THE ABOVE LICENSE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE SOFTWARE TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER SOFTWARE), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

To install LaTeX::Table, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm LaTeX::Table

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install LaTeX::Table

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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