How to refer a table from one chapter in another chapter in a report - reference

Question

I am writing a report, my document class is report, and I need to refer a table defined in one chapter in another chapter. I am using \usepackage{hyperref} too, however I am unaware of the code that has to be used in the text. Please help me to find a solution for this issue.

Answer 1

You should use the \label and \ref commands:
\label assigns a label (nomen omen) and can be given to an equation, a table, a figure.
\ref is used to refer to a particular label.
For example, if you have a figure and assign to it the label fig1 by using the command \label{fig1} then in the text you can refer to that figure by writing, for example
As it is clear in \ref{fig1}, the colors are bright and vivid.
Take a look here for some guidance. Down below you can find an example related to your question.
\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\chapter{First Chapter}
\lipsum[1]
\begin{table}[htbp]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{c|c|c}
A & B & C\\
\hline
1 & 2 & 3\\
4 & 5 & 6
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\caption{A table}\label{tab}
\end{table}
\lipsum[1-3]
\chapter{Second chapter}
In this chapter we are referring to Table \ref{tab}. In the following we analyse the data and compare them to Table \ref{tab2}.
\begin{table}[htbp]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{c|c|c}
D & E & F\\
\hline
-1 & -2 & -3\\
-4 & -5 & -6
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\caption{Another table}\label{tab2}
\end{table}
\end{document}
You may use also the package cleveref to let Latex handle the correct names of labelled environments (equations, tables, figures...).

Answer 2

You can use latex's \label/\ref mechanism like in the following example:
\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\begin{document}
\chapter{chapter 1}
\begin{table}[htbp]
...
\caption{some table}
\label{mytable}
\end{table}
\chapter{chapter 2}
see my table \ref{mytable}
\end{document}