[texhax] Put figure/table in the center

[Robin Fairbairns]

> On Sun, 26 Oct 2003, Tran Hong Quang wrote:
> 
> > How can I put figure/table in the center?

ross too assumed you mean horizontally in the center...

> \begin{figure}
> \begin{center}
>  .... whatever ....
>  .... more stuff ...
> \end{center}
> \caption{....}
> \end{figure}
> 
> works for most instances of  ... whatever ...

and adds unnecessary vertical space -- see:

http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=vertspacefloat

which explains that you should use:

\begin{figure}
\centering
 .... whatever ....
\caption{....}
\end{figure}

> However, you may come across some environments for which this
> doesn't work, due to TeX's vertical/horizontal mode mechanism.
> In that case, a simple fix is to stat as follows:
> 
> \begin{figure}
> \begin{center}\leavevmode

which is odd because i once believed that {center} was to avoid the
need to leave vertical mode...

> I use this a lot with Xy-pic diagrams, which create a TeX \hbox:
> 
> \begin{figure}
> \begin{center}\leavevmode
>  ... perhaps some customising definitions ...
> \begin{xy}
> ....
> ....
> \end{xy}
> etc.

if it creates an \hbox, why the need to enclose it in a center
environment?  \centering\leavevmode would be enough.