9.5.2 Multitable Rows

After the @multitable command defining the column widths (see the previous section), you begin each row in the body of a multitable with @item, and separate the column entries with @tab. Line breaks are not special within the table body, and you may break input lines in your source file as necessary.

You can also use @headitem instead of @item to produce a heading row. The TeX output for such a row is in bold, and the HTML and Docbook output uses the <thead> tag. In Info, the heading row is followed by a separator line made of dashes (‘-’ characters).

The command @headitemfont can be used in templates when the entries in a @headitem row need to be used in a template. It is a synonym for @b, but using @headitemfont avoids any dependency on that particular font style, in case we provide a way to change it in the future.

Here is a complete example of a multi-column table (the text is from The GNU Emacs Manual, see Splitting Windows in The GNU Emacs Manual):

@multitable @columnfractions .15 .45 .4
@headitem Key @tab Command @tab Description
@item C-x 2
@tab @code{split-window-vertically}
@tab Split the selected window into two windows,
with one above the other.
@item C-x 3
@tab @code{split-window-horizontally}
@tab Split the selected window into two windows
positioned side by side.
@item C-Mouse-2
@tab
@tab In the mode line or scroll bar of a window,
split that window.
@end multitable

produces: