Multicolumn

Multicolumn[list,cols]

is an object that formats with the elements of list arranged in a grid with the indicated number of columns.

Multicolumn[list,{rows,Automatic}]

formats as a grid with the indicated number of rows.

Multicolumn[list,{rows,cols}]

formats as a grid with the indicated number of rows and columns.

Multicolumn[list]

formats with the elements of list in a roughly square arrangement.

Details and Options

  • Multicolumn[list,cols] uses the smallest number of rows so that all elements will be shown.
  • Multicolumn[list,{rows,cols}] will not show all the elements in list if Length[list] is larger than rows*cols.
  • Multicolumn[list] calculates the number of rows and columns to be near Sqrt[Length[list]].
  • Multicolumn[…] evaluates to the corresponding Grid.
  • Multicolumn takes the same options as Grid.
  • Multicolumn fills the first column first, then the second column, etc.
  • Setting Appearance->"Horizontal" will cause the resulting grid to fill row by row, rather than column by column.

    • List of all options

Examples

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Basic Examples  (2)

Lay out a list in the specified number of columns:

Create a table with approximately square dimensions:

Scope  (3)

Specify the number of rows:

Specifying both the number of rows and columns:

Specifying both will omit data if necessary:

Multicolumn supports all the same options as Grid:

Options  (1)

Appearance  (1)

The default Appearance will fill columns before rows, ordering the data from top to bottom:

To order the data from left to right, set Appearance->"Horizontal":

Possible Issues  (3)

If the Multicolumn is constrained in size, it may wrap its contents very narrowly:

Multicolumn[list] produces square dimensions, not a square onscreen presence:

Multicolumn fills columns one at a time, so there may not be enough data for the requested number of columns:

The resulting grid does contain the requested number of columns, with padding added as needed:

The setting Appearance->"Horizontal" will fill row by row, rather than column by column:

Neat Examples  (2)

Create a table of links to the Documentation Center for functions related to charting:

Wolfram Research (2014), Multicolumn, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Multicolumn.html.

Text

Wolfram Research (2014), Multicolumn, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Multicolumn.html.

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2014. "Multicolumn." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Multicolumn.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2014). Multicolumn. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Multicolumn.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_multicolumn, author="Wolfram Research", title="{Multicolumn}", year="2014", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Multicolumn.html}", note=[Accessed: 28-May-2025 ]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_multicolumn, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={Multicolumn}, year={2014}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Multicolumn.html}, note=[Accessed: 28-May-2025 ]}