minipage (LaTeX2e unofficial reference manual (November 2018))

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### 8.18 `minipage`

Synopses:

    \begin{minipage}{width}
      contents
    \end{minipage}

or

    \begin{minipage}[position][height][inner-pos]{width}
      contents
    \end{minipage}

Put contents into a box that is width wide. This is like a small version of a page; it can contain its own footnotes, itemized lists, etc. (There are some restrictions, including that it cannot have floats.) This box will not be broken across pages. So `minipage` is similar to `\parbox` (see \parbox) but here you can have paragraphs.

This example will be 3 inches wide, and has two paragraphs.

    \begin{minipage}{3in}
      Stephen Kleene was a founder of the Theory of Computation.

      He was a student of Church, wrote three influential texts,
      was President of the Association for Symbolic Logic,
      and won the National Medal of Science.
    \end{minipage}

See below for a discussion of the paragraph indent inside a `minipage`.

The required argument width is a rigid length (see Lengths). It gives the width of the box into which contents are typeset.

There are three optional arguments, position, height, and inner-pos. You need not include all three. For example, get the default position and set the height with `\begin{minipage}[c][2.54cm] contents \end{minipage}`. (Get the natural height with an empty argument, `[]`.)

The optional argument position governs how the `minipage` vertically aligns with the surrounding material.

`c`

  (synonym `m`) Default. Positions the `minipage` so its vertical center lines up with the center of the adjacent text line (what Plain TeX calls `\vcenter`).

`t`

  Match the top line in the `minipage` with the baseline of the surrounding text (Plain TeX’s `\vtop`.

`b`

  Match the bottom line in the `minipage` with the baseline of the surrounding text (Plain TeX’s `\vbox`.

To see the effects of these, contrast running this

    ---\begin{minipage}[c]{0.25in}
      first\\ second\\ third
    \end{minipage}

with the results of changing `c` to `b` or `t`.

The optional argument height is a rigid length (see Lengths). It sets the height of the `minipage`. You can enter any value larger than, or equal to, or smaller than the `minipage`’s natural height and LaTeX will not give an error or warning. You can also set it to a height of zero or a negative value.

The final optional argument inner-pos controls the placement of content inside the box. These are the possible values are (the default is the value of position).

`t`

  Place content at the top of the box.

`c`

  Place it in the vertical center.

`b`

  Place it at the box bottom.

`s`

  Stretch contents out vertically; it must contain vertically stretchable space.

The inner-pos argument makes sense when the height option is set to a value larger than the `minipage`’s natural height. To see the effect of the options, run this example with the various choices in place of `b`.

    Text before
    \begin{center}
      ---\begin{minipage}[c][3in][b]{0.25\textwidth}
           first\\ second\\ third
      \end{minipage}
    \end{center}
    Text after

By default paragraphs are not indented in a `minipage`. Change that with a command such as `\setlength{\parindent}{1pc}` at the start of contents.

Footnotes in a `minipage` environment are handled in a way that is particularly useful for putting footnotes in figures or tables. A `\footnote` or `\footnotetext` command puts the footnote at the bottom of the minipage instead of at the bottom of the page, and it uses the `\mpfootnote` counter instead of the ordinary `footnote` counter (see Counters).

This puts the footnote at the bottom of the table, not the bottom of the page.

    \begin{center}           % center the minipage on the line
    \begin{minipage}{2.5in}
      \begin{center}         % center the table inside the minipage
        \begin{tabular}{ll}
          \textsc{Monarch}  &\textsc{Reign}             \\ \hline
          Elizabeth II      &63 years\footnote{to date} \\
          Victoria          &63 years                   \\
          George III        &59 years
        \end{tabular}
      \end{center}
    \end{minipage}
    \end{center}

If you nest minipages then there is an oddness when using footnotes. Footnotes appear at the bottom of the text ended by the next `\end{minipage}` which may not be their logical place.

This puts a table containing data side by side with a map graphic. They are vertically centered.

    \newcommand*{\vcenteredhbox}[1]{\begin{tabular}{@{}c@{}}#1\end{tabular}}
      ...
    \begin{center}
      \vcenteredhbox{\includegraphics[width=0.3\textwidth]{nyc.png}}
      \hspace{0.1\textwidth}
      \begin{minipage}{0.5\textwidth}
        \begin{tabular}{r|l}
          \multicolumn{1}{r}{Borough} &Pop (million)  \\ \hline
          The Bronx      &$1.5$  \\
          Brooklyn       &$2.6$  \\
          Manhattan      &$1.6$  \\
          Queens         &$2.3$  \\
          Staten Island  &$0.5$
        \end{tabular}
      \end{minipage}
    \end{center}

Unofficial LaTeX2e reference manual