Verbatim environment inside LaTeX cell?

Question

I would like to insert some XML inside a LaTeX table, so I thought that \begin{verbatim}.. will be a good solution for preserving the syntax, but it does not work like this:

\begin{tabular}{ ll }
   sample & 
   \begin{verbatim}
      <how>
          <to value="make" />
          <this value="work" />
      </how>
   \end{verbatim}
\end{tabular}

How can I make this work?

Answer 1

You need to put it inside a minipage, like so:

\begin{tabular}{ ll }
sample &
\begin{minipage}{3in}
\begin{verbatim}
<how>
   <to value="make" />
   <this value="work" />
</how>
\end{verbatim}
\end{minipage}
\end{tabular}

Unfortunately, this means you have to decide how wide the column will be in advance (that's what the {3in} part does). I usually start with 3in and then adjust it up or down until the page looks good and I stop getting overfull hbox messages.