jx:mergeCells

jx:mergeCells merges cells in a rectangular range during template processing. This is essential when you need section headers that span multiple columns inside a loop.

Syntax

jx:mergeCells(lastCell="C1" cols="3" rows="1")

Attributes

Attribute	Description	Required
lastCell	Bottom-right cell of the command area	Yes
cols	Number of columns to merge	Yes
rows	Number of rows to merge	Yes

Why you need this

You can merge cells in your template file directly — and for static headers, you should. But when merges happen inside a loop (like a department header that spans 3 columns, repeated for each department), you need jx:mergeCells because the merge positions change with each iteration.

Example

A department report with a merged header per department:

Cell A1 comment:
  jx:area(lastCell="C5")
  jx:each(items="departments" var="dept" lastCell="C5")

Cell A1 also has:
  jx:mergeCells(lastCell="C1" cols="3" rows="1")

Cell A1 value: ${dept.Name}

For each department, the department name cell spans columns A through C, creating a clean section header.

Try it

Download the runnable example: template t11.xlsx | output 11_mergecells.xlsx | code snippet

Next command

Need to set a summary or total cell?

jx:updateCell →