§9.2.9

Split Tables Sharing a Header

Two fragments share one printed header—one table or two?

✅ NormativeSettled. The requirement holds as written.📄 Page ruleCan be applied from the page alone.Read §9.2.9 in the RFC ↗

The requirement

Fragments that share a header row or a label column printed only once MUST be rendered as one table. The missing header is the proof that the second fragment was never meant to stand alone.

When it applies

A grid is sometimes printed as two or more visually separated fragments — a gap, a page-design break, a divider — with the header row or the label column printed once and not repeated in the second fragment. Read on its own, the second fragment is unreadable without the header above it, so it is not a separate table. Emitting it as a separate headerless table, or dropping it, loses the meaning of every value in it (never drop).

Sketch of the printed page — layout, not output

Printed:   | Age | Rate M | Rate F |     ← header printed once
           | 25  | 1.10   | 1.05   |

              (visual gap / band)

           | 45  | 1.42   | 1.31   |     ← no header repeated: same table
           | 55  | 1.80   | 1.66   |

This is the mirror of the repeated-header test in Repeated Headers and Title Bands (§9.2.7): a repeated header starts a new table, an unrepeated one continues the current one. Between them, header repetition is the single boundary signal on a page, read before gaps, rules or bands.

Reading the examples. Each one pairs a source page with the output the rule expects. ✅ Sample: the rule applies. ❌ Counter-sample: it looks like it applies and does not, or a rendering got it wrong. A non-conforming output, in red, is shown only for contrast. … marks content left out of an excerpt.

Examples

✅ SampleThe rule applies

The Count / % of Count / Premium / % of Premium header row is printed once and shared…`3samehead`

None of the blocks below can be read on its own, so the page is one table with each cohort label as a band row.

Source page

Expected output · excerpt

	Count	% of Count	Premium	% of Premium
Issue Year
1999	80	3.5%	217,072	3.2%
2000	316	13.7%	964,763	14.2%
2001	374	16.2%	1,091,387	16.0%
2002	733	31.8%	2,110,680	31.0%
2003	570	24.7%	1,695,230	24.9%
2004+	234	10.1%	738,975	32031.9%
Total	2,307	100.0%	6,818,108	100.0%
Issue Age
<30	4	0.2%	4,451	0.1%
…

✅ SampleThe rule applies

A company-relocation list whose header row is printed once here…`dt1`

A company-relocation list whose header row is printed once here…

Source page

Expected output · table 2 of 2, excerpt

**Relocations to Pier District by Industry**
TAMI
Company	SF Leased	Year Lease Signed	Former Location	Industry
Harrowgate Media	1,061,000	2011	Uptown	TAMI, Media
Belmore House (new owner of Castellan Inc.)	702,500	2014	Uptown	TAMI, Media
AdmarQ	661,900	2013	Uptown	TAMI, Advertising
Sonarfy	541,200	2017	Uptown South	TAMI, Technology
…
NDC Partners	192,600	2020	Uptown; Uptown South; Riverside	TAMI, Advertising
…
Draygo5	88,400	2013	Uptown South	TAMI, Advertising
Business Ledger	85,200	2017	Uptown South	TAMI, Media
Higher Peak Games	84,800	2014	Uptown South	TAMI, Media

✅ SampleThe rule applies

…and continues onto the next page with no header row at all`dt2`

the fragment depends on the header printed on the page before. Across a page break the fragments stay on their own pages — see Cross-Page Tables (§4.3) — so this page's fragment is rendered headerless and carries the continuation flags instead of a copied header.

Source page

Expected output · the table

Bramwell Dynamics	58,042	2017	Midtown South	TAMI, Advertising
Northgate Media Group	58,000	2010	Midtown	TAMI, Media
Solveig Publishing (i.e. Solveig Magazine)	55,470	2019	Midtown South	TAMI, Media
The Cobalt Bloc	55,268	2014	Midtown South	TAMI, Advertising
Halloway & Vance	52,409	2020	Midtown South	TAMI, Advertising
Oceanview Media Systems	50,639	2019	Midtown South	TAMI, Technology
Ferrand & Co.	49,880	2016	Midtown South	TAMI, Advertising
Kettlewell Interactive	47,205	2021	Midtown	TAMI, Technology
Vantree Studios	45,910	2018	Midtown South	TAMI, Media
Ashworth Public Affairs	44,330	2015	Midtown South	TAMI, Public Relations
Corvane Analytics	42,760	2019	Midtown	TAMI, Technology
Millbrook & Sons Media	41,015	2013	Midtown South	TAMI, Media
Larkspur Creative Group	39,470	2020	Midtown South	TAMI, Advertising
Dunmore Systems	37,850	2011	Midtown	TAMI, Technology

Two cases that need judgement

Something sits in the gap. A band row, a caption or a paragraph between the fragments does not automatically break the table. The fragments MUST be merged as long as the second one still depends on the header above it; a heading printed in the gap becomes a band row inside the one table.

The shared piece is the label column. Side-by-side fragments with the row labels printed once on the left and value blocks separated by a gutter follow the same test: the value blocks cannot be read without those labels, so they MUST be rendered as one table. Every printed value MUST be kept, with the blocks placed as further columns of the labelled table.

✅ SampleThe rule applies

one label column, two value blocks

A quarterly summary printed as one row-label column on the left — Revenue, Gross profit, Selling, general and administrative expenses, EBIT, Non-controlling interests, Net income — feeding two separately boxed value blocks: C$ millions and (% of revenue), each with its own Q2 2025 / Q2 2024 header pair.

The right-hand block has no row labels of its own. Read on its own it is ten unnamed values, which is the proof that the two fragments were never meant to stand apart. The same structure is printed again below for the year-to-date figures, with its header rows repeated, so that block is a second table.

The blocks do not share a header row: each has its own. It is the label column that is printed once — the mirror sub-case. The em-dashes in the Non-controlling interests rows are values, not blanks (Marks and Symbols in Cells (§9.6.6)), and (% of revenue) is a units line in the header (Units Row (§9.3.5)). The empty gutter between the blocks is not a column (Gutter Columns (§9.4.1)).

Source page

Expected output · table 1 of 2

	C$ millions		(% of revenue)
	Q2 2025	Q2 2024	Q2 2025	Q2 2024
Revenue	648.9	581.4
Gross profit	184.2	168.0	28.4	28.9
Selling, general and administrative expenses	146.7	132.8	22.6	22.8
EBIT	37.5	35.2	5.8	6.1
Non-controlling interests	—	2.1	—	0.4
Net income	24.9	15.8	3.8	2.7

✅ SampleThe rule applies

a numbered note heading in the gap

The four-column header (Consolidated / Merevald Retail Ltd, two dates each) is printed once at the top. Note 20 Reserves and note 21 Total equity reconciliation both sit under it, separated by the second note's heading. Neither fragment repeats the header, so it is one table, and each note heading is a band row inside it.

Source page

Expected output

	Consolidated		Merevald Retail Ltd
	As at 29 June 25 $m	As at 23 June 24 $m	As at 29 June 25 $m	As at 23 June 24 $m
20 Reserves
Reserves
Capital profits reserve	58.4	56.2	2.4	2.4
Asset revaluation reserve	64.1	65.9	0.5	0.5
General reserve	41.3	41.3	40.2	40.2
Foreign currency translation reserve	(0.8)	(1.9)	–	–
	162.9	161.5	43.1	43.1
21 Total equity reconciliation
Total equity at beginning of period	1,348.9	1,441.6	982.2	1,061.3
Total changes in equity recognised in the statement of financial performance	498.6	421.1	344.0	436.5
Transactions with owners as owners:
– Issue of shares as per note 16	104.0	87.3	104.0	87.3
– Dividends paid or provided	(305.4)	(251.0)	(305.4)	(251.0)
Total equity at end of period	1,610.7	1,348.9	1,088.5	982.2

Rule id tables-split-tables-sharing-a-header · tables boundaries headers proposed-rule

When it applies

Examples

Two cases that need judgement

Neighbouring rules, and how they differ

More