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I've been trying to produce a table in which the first two columns has rows merged, the next three columns has columns merged, with three sub-columns, within the same height as the merged rows of cols 1 and 2, with a final column that has rows merged like cols 1 and 2-viz.

I am using pdflatex, the tabularx package, booktabs package and array package. My relevant code is:

documentclass[12pt]{article}

usepackage{multirow}

usepackage{tabularx}

usepackage{booktabs}

begin{document}

begin{table}[h]

caption{Spectral channel characteristics of SEVIRI in terms of central, minimum and maximum wavelength of the channels and the main application areas of each channel.}

begin{tabularx}{textwidth}{l l c c c l}

toprule

multirow{3}{3.5em}{Channel No.} & multirow{3}{3.5em}{Spectral Band ($mu$m)} & multicolumn{3}{c}{Characteristics of} & multirow{3}{10em}{Main observational application} \

{} & {} & multicolumn{3}{c}{Spectral Band ($mu$m)} & {} \

cmidrule(lr){3-5}

{} & {} & $lambda_{mathrm{cen}}$ & $lambda_{mathrm{min}}$ & $lambda_{mathrm{max}}$ & {}\

midrule

1 & VIS0.6 & 0.635 & 0.56 & 0.71 & Surface, clouds, wind fields \

2 & VIS0.8 & 0.81 & 0.74 & 0.88 & Surface, clouds, wind fields \

3 & NIR1.6 & 1.64 & 1.50 & 1.78 & Surface, cloud phase \

4 & IR3.9 & 3.90 & 3.48 & 4.36 & Surface, clouds, wind fields \

5 & WV6.2 & 6.25 & 5.35 & 7.15 & Water vapor, high level clouds, atmospheric instability \

6 & WV7.3 & 7.35 & 6.85 & 7.85 & Water vapor, atmospheric instability \

7 & IR8.7 & 8.70 & 8.30 & 9.1 & Surface, clouds, atmospheric instability \

8 & IR9.7 & 9.66 & 9.38 & 9.94 & Ozone \

9 & IR10.8 & 10.80 & 9.80 & 11.80 & Surface, clouds, wind fields, atmospheric instability \

10 & IR12.0 & 12.00 & 11.00 & 13.00 & Surface, clouds, atmospheric instability \

11 & IR13.4 & 13.40 & 12.40 & 14.40 & Cirrus cloud height, atmospheric instability \

12 & HRV & multicolumn{3}{c}{Broadband (about 0.4--1.1 $mu$m)} & Surface, clouds \

bottomrule

end{tabularx}

end{table}

    end{document}

I would like the lambda-containing columns to be evenly distributed. I tried to add sizing to the c c c columns, but then I get the illegal pream-token error when I run:

[1{c:/texlive/2018/texmf-var/fonts/map/pdftex/updmap/pdftex.map}]

! Package array Error:  Illegal pream-token (2em): `c' used.



See the array package documentation for explanation.

Type  H <return>  for immediate help.

 ...                                              



l.104 end{tabularx}

Any ideas?

I'd probably start with. That long line in no 12, will never look any good, so best to rewrite it.

documentclass[12pt]{article}

usepackage{multirow}

usepackage{tabularx}

usepackage{booktabs}

usepackage[tableposition=top]{caption}

usepackage{siunitx}

begin{document}

begin{table}[h]

  caption{Spectral channel characteristics of SEVIRI in terms of

    central, minimum and maximum wavelength of the channels and the

    main application areas of each channel.} 

begin{tabularx}{textwidth}{

  l

  l

  S[table-format=2.3]

  S[table-format=2.2]

  S[table-format=2.2]

  >{raggedrightarraybackslash}X

  }

  toprule

  multirow{3}{3.5em}{Channel No.}

  &

    multirow{3}{3.5em}{centering Spectral Band  (si{micrometer})}

  &

    multicolumn{3}{c}{Characteristics of}

  &

    multirow{3}{10em}{Main observational application} 

  \

  {} & {} & multicolumn{3}{c}{Spectral Band (si{micrometer})} & {} 

  \

  cmidrule(lr){3-5}

  {} & {} & {$lambda_{mathrm{cen}}$} & {$lambda_{mathrm{min}}$} &

                                                                  {$lambda_{mathrm{max}}$} & {}

  \

  midrule

  1 & VIS0.6 & 0.635 & 0.56 & 0.71 & Surface, clouds, wind fields 

  \

  2 & VIS0.8 & 0.81 & 0.74 & 0.88 & Surface, clouds, wind fields 

  \

  3 & NIR1.6 & 1.64 & 1.50 & 1.78 & Surface, cloud phase 

  \

  4 & IR3.9 & 3.90 & 3.48 & 4.36 & Surface, clouds, wind fields 

  \

  5 & WV6.2 & 6.25 & 5.35 & 7.15 & Water vapor, high level clouds,

                                   atmospheric instability 

  \

  6 & WV7.3 & 7.35 & 6.85 & 7.85 & Water vapor, atmospheric instability 

  \

  7 & IR8.7 & 8.70 & 8.30 & 9.1 & Surface, clouds, atmospheric

                                  instability 

  \

  8 & IR9.7 & 9.66 & 9.38 & 9.94 & Ozone 

  \

  9 & IR10.8 & 10.80 & 9.80 & 11.80 & Surface, clouds, wind fields,

                                      atmospheric instability 

  \

  10 & IR12.0 & 12.00 & 11.00 & 13.00 & Surface, clouds, atmospheric

                                        instability 

  \

  11 & IR13.4 & 13.40 & 12.40 & 14.40 & Cirrus cloud height, atmospheric instability \

  12 & HRV & multicolumn{3}{c}{Broadband*} & Surface, clouds \

  bottomrule

  addlinespace

  multicolumn{4}{l}{* about SIrange{0.4}{1.1}{micrometer}}

end{tabularx}

end{table}

    end{document}

Thanks for all the responses! So, I've been playing with tabularx and saw someone define a type of column in the preamble in a previous posting:

newcolumntype{Y}{>{centeringarraybackslash}X}

So now, when I specify the middle three columns as Y and tweaking my column size a bit (also, l, c, and r don't accept sizing, that's why I was getting the error, I switched to p, m and b of the array package):

begin{tabularx}{textwidth}{p{3.5em} p{3.5em} Y Y Y p{10em}}

I get very close to what I was looking for:

(Sorry about the dark rows, I am also playing with rowcolors).

Thanks again for the input!