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Column grouping allows you to organize related columns under shared parent headers, creating a hierarchical column structure.

​
Basic Usage

Create column groups by defining a hierarchy: 
import { DataGrid, type ColumnOrColumnGroup } from 'react-data-grid';

interface Row {
  id: number;
  firstName: string;
  lastName: string;
  email: string;
  phone: string;
}

const columns: ColumnOrColumnGroup<Row>[] = [
  { key: 'id', name: 'ID', width: 80 },
  {
    name: 'Personal Info',
    children: [
      { key: 'firstName', name: 'First Name' },
      { key: 'lastName', name: 'Last Name' }
    ]
  },
  {
    name: 'Contact',
    children: [
      { key: 'email', name: 'Email' },
      { key: 'phone', name: 'Phone' }
    ]
  }
];

function MyGrid() {
  return <DataGrid columns={columns} rows={rows} />;
}
This creates a two-level header structure:
┌────────┬────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┐
│        │     Personal Info          │        Contact           │
│   ID   ├──────────────┬─────────────┼─────────────┬────────────┤
│        │  First Name  │  Last Name  │    Email    │   Phone    │
└────────┴──────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴────────────┘

​
Multi-Level Nesting

Column groups can be nested multiple levels deep: 
const columns: ColumnOrColumnGroup<Row>[] = [
  { key: 'id', name: 'ID' },
  {
    name: 'Employee',
    children: [
      {
        name: 'Personal',
        children: [
          { key: 'firstName', name: 'First Name' },
          { key: 'lastName', name: 'Last Name' }
        ]
      },
      {
        name: 'Contact',
        children: [
          { key: 'email', name: 'Email' },
          { key: 'phone', name: 'Phone' }
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    name: 'Employment',
    children: [
      { key: 'department', name: 'Department' },
      { key: 'startDate', name: 'Start Date' }
    ]
  }
];

const columns: ColumnOrColumnGroup<Row>[] = [
  { key: 'id', name: 'ID' },
  {
    name: 'Group',
    children: [
      { key: 'col1', name: 'Column 1' },
      { key: 'col2', name: 'Column 2' }
    ]
  }
];
Simple grouping with one parent header.

​
Styling Group Headers

Apply custom styles to column group headers: 
const columns: ColumnOrColumnGroup<Row>[] = [
  {
    name: 'Personal Info',
    headerCellClass: 'group-header-primary',
    children: [
      { key: 'firstName', name: 'First Name' },
      { key: 'lastName', name: 'Last Name' }
    ]
  }
];

.group-header-primary {
  background-color: #f0f0f0;
  font-weight: bold;
  text-align: center;
  border-bottom: 2px solid #333;
}
Child columns can have their own styles:
const columns: ColumnOrColumnGroup<Row>[] = [
  {
    name: 'Personal Info',
    headerCellClass: 'group-header',
    children: [
      {
        key: 'firstName',
        name: 'First Name',
        headerCellClass: 'required-field'
      },
      {
        key: 'lastName',
        name: 'Last Name',
        headerCellClass: 'required-field'
      }
    ]
  }
];

.group-header {
  background-color: #e8e8e8;
  font-weight: bold;
}

.required-field {
  position: relative;
}

.required-field::after {
  content: '*';
  color: red;
  margin-left: 4px;
}

​
React Elements as Names

Use React elements for rich header content: 
import { InfoIcon } from './icons';

const columns: ColumnOrColumnGroup<Row>[] = [
  {
    name: (
      <div style={{ display: 'flex', alignItems: 'center', gap: 8 }}>
        <InfoIcon size={16} />
        <span>Personal Information</span>
      </div>
    ),
    children: [
      { key: 'firstName', name: 'First Name' },
      { key: 'lastName', name: 'Last Name' }
    ]
  }
];
Add interactivity to group headers:
function GroupHeader({ title, onToggle }: { title: string; onToggle: () => void }) {
  const [collapsed, setCollapsed] = useState(false);
  
  return (
    <div style={{ display: 'flex', alignItems: 'center' }}>
      <button
        onClick={() => {
          setCollapsed(!collapsed);
          onToggle();
        }}
        aria-expanded={!collapsed}
      >
        {collapsed ? '▶' : '▼'}
      </button>
      <span>{title}</span>
    </div>
  );
}

const columns: ColumnOrColumnGroup<Row>[] = [
  {
    name: <GroupHeader title="Personal Info" onToggle={() => console.log('toggled')} />,
    children: [
      { key: 'firstName', name: 'First Name' },
      { key: 'lastName', name: 'Last Name' }
    ]
  }
];
The grid does not provide built-in functionality to hide/show columns based on group toggles. You’ll need to implement this logic yourself.

​
Column Spanning

Column groups work seamlessly with column spanning: 
const columns: ColumnOrColumnGroup<Row>[] = [
  {
    name: 'Details',
    children: [
      {
        key: 'title',
        name: 'Title',
        colSpan(args) {
          if (args.type === 'ROW' && args.row.isFullWidth) {
            return 3; // Span across all columns in the group
          }
          return undefined;
        }
      },
      { key: 'status', name: 'Status' },
      { key: 'priority', name: 'Priority' }
    ]
  }
];

​
Features in Groups

All column features work within groups: 
const columns: ColumnOrColumnGroup<Row>[] = [
  {
    name: 'User Data',
    headerCellClass: 'group-header',
    children: [
      {
        key: 'name',
        name: 'Name',
        sortable: true,
        resizable: true,
        frozen: false
      },
      {
        key: 'email',
        name: 'Email',
        sortable: true,
        resizable: true,
        editable: true
      },
      {
        key: 'role',
        name: 'Role',
        sortable: true
      }
    ]
  }
];
Supported Features:
  • Sorting
  • Resizing
  • Editing
  • Custom renderers
  • Cell spanning
  • Column classes
Note: Column groups themselves cannot be frozen, sorted, or resized. Only individual columns can use these features.

​
Limitations

Column groups are not supported in TreeDataGrid:
import { TreeDataGrid } from 'react-data-grid';

// ❌ This will not work
<TreeDataGrid
  columns={[
    {
      name: 'Group',
      children: [/* ... */]
    }
  ]}
  // ...
/>

// ✅ Use flat columns with TreeDataGrid
<TreeDataGrid
  columns={[
    { key: 'col1', name: 'Column 1' },
    { key: 'col2', name: 'Column 2' }
  ]}
  // ...
/>
From the source code (src/TreeDataGrid.tsx):
export interface TreeDataGridProps<R, SR = unknown, K extends Key = Key> extends Omit<
  DataGridProps<R, SR, K>,
  'columns' | /* ... */
> {
  columns: readonly Column<NoInfer<R>, NoInfer<SR>>[]; // Must be flat Column[]
  // ...
}

​
API Reference

​
ColumnGroup Type

interface ColumnGroup<R, SR = unknown> {
  /** The name of the column group, displayed in the header cell */
  readonly name: string | ReactElement;
  
  /** Class name(s) for the group header cell */
  readonly headerCellClass?: string | undefined | null;
  
  /** Child columns or nested column groups */
  readonly children: readonly ColumnOrColumnGroup<R, SR>[];
}

​
ColumnOrColumnGroup Type

type ColumnOrColumnGroup<R, SR = unknown> = Column<R, SR> | ColumnGroup<R, SR>;
Union type representing either a regular column or a column group.

​
CalculatedColumnParent Type

The internal type used for rendered parent groups: 
interface CalculatedColumnParent<R, SR> {
  readonly name: string | ReactElement;
  readonly parent: CalculatedColumnParent<R, SR> | undefined;
  readonly idx: number;
  readonly colSpan: number;
  readonly level: number;
  readonly headerCellClass?: string | undefined | null;
}

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