number_formatter: Helper function to specify how 'aftables' should display...

In aftables: Create Spreadsheet Publications Following Best Practice

Helper function to specify how aftables should display numeric data

Description

Control how aftables formats numeric data in tables in the excel output. Set the number of decimal places to display and whether to use commas as thousand separators. This function can be used to overwrite the default behaviour of aftables, which normally determines the number of decimal places required automatically from the data in each numeric column, and adds thousand separators to all numeric columns. A key use case for this function is to prevent aftables from displaying calendar or financial years as numbers with thousand separators, but it can be used with any numeric data column. Use this function before the data frame is passed to the create_aftable() function.

Usage

number_formatter(table, columns, decimal_places = NA, thousand_separators = NA)

Arguments

table	Required data frame. Data frame to be passed into aftables::create_aftable function. No default.
columns	Required character vector of column names or <tidy-select> syntax determining columns to be processed with specified number formatting. No default.
decimal_places	Optional numeric value specifying decimal places to display. Default NA keeps any existing custom number formatting already applied to the column. Set to NULL to remove any custom number formatting and for aftables to set the number of decimal places automatically.
thousand_separators	Optional logical value whether data in specified columns should be formatted with thousand separators. Default NA keeps any existing custom number formatting already applied to the column. Set to NULL to remove any custom number formatting and for aftables to set thousand separators automatically.

Examples

## Not run: 
library(dplyr)

set.seed(1066)

table_1_df <- data.frame(
  Category = LETTERS[1:10],
  Date = 2001:2010,
  Date2 = 2001:2010,
  "Count" = abs(round(rnorm(10), 3) * 1e3),
  "Population" = abs(round(rnorm(10), 5) * 1e5),
  check.names = FALSE
) |>
  mutate(Percentage = Count/Population * 100)

# Specify removing thousand separators for Date and Date2 columns
table_1_df_formatted <- table_1_df |>
  number_formatter(
    columns = c(Date, Date2),
    thousand_separators = FALSE
  )

# number_formatter columns argument also accepts tidyselect expressions
table_1_df_formatted_tidyselect <- table_1_df |>
number_formatter(
  columns = tidyselect::starts_with("Date"),
  thousand_separators = FALSE
)

# Display only 2 decimal places of Percentage column
table_1_df_formatted_2dp <- table_1_df |>
  number_formatter(
    columns = "Percentage",
    decimal_places = 2
  )

# number_formatter can be used multiple times to set different number formats
table_1_df_multiple_formats <- table_1_df |>
  number_formatter(
    columns = "Percentage",
    decimal_places = 2
  ) |>
  number_formatter(
    columns = tidyselect::starts_with("Date"),
    thousand_separators = FALSE
  )


## End(Not run)

aftables documentation built on Aug. 24, 2026, 9:06 a.m.