write_datatable: Write to a worksheet as an Excel table

In openxlsx2: Read, Write and Edit 'xlsx' Files

Write to a worksheet as an Excel table

Description

Write to a worksheet and format as an Excel table. Use wb_add_data_table() in new code. This function is deprecated and may not be exported in the future.

Usage

write_datatable(
  wb,
  sheet,
  x,
  dims = wb_dims(start_row, start_col),
  start_col = 1,
  start_row = 1,
  col_names = TRUE,
  row_names = FALSE,
  table_style = "TableStyleLight9",
  table_name = NULL,
  with_filter = TRUE,
  sep = ", ",
  first_column = FALSE,
  last_column = FALSE,
  banded_rows = TRUE,
  banded_cols = FALSE,
  apply_cell_style = TRUE,
  remove_cell_style = FALSE,
  na.strings = na_strings(),
  inline_strings = TRUE,
  total_row = FALSE,
  ...
)

Arguments

wb	A Workbook object containing a worksheet.
sheet	The worksheet to write to. Can be the worksheet index or name.
x	A data frame
dims	Spreadsheet cell range that will determine start_col and start_row: "A1", "A1:B2", "A:B"
start_col	A vector specifying the starting column to write x to.
start_row	A vector specifying the starting row to write x to.
col_names	If TRUE, column names of x are written.
row_names	If TRUE, the row names of x are written.
table_style	Any table style name or "none" (see vignette("openxlsx2_style_manual"))
table_name	Name of table in workbook. The table name must be unique.
with_filter	If TRUE, columns with have filters in the first row.
sep	Only applies to list columns. The separator used to collapse list columns to a character vector e.g. sapply(x$list_column, paste, collapse = sep). The below options correspond to Excel table options:
first_column	logical. If TRUE, the first column is bold.
last_column	logical. If TRUE, the last column is bold.
banded_rows	logical. If TRUE, rows are color banded.
banded_cols	logical. If TRUE, the columns are color banded.
apply_cell_style	Should we write cell styles to the workbook
remove_cell_style	keep the cell style?
na.strings	Value used for replacing NA values from x. Default looks if options(openxlsx2.na.strings) is set. Otherwise na_strings() uses the special ⁠#N/A⁠ value within the workbook.
inline_strings	write characters as inline strings
total_row	logical. With the default FALSE no total row is added.
...	additional arguments

Details

Formulae written using wb_add_formula() to a Workbook object will not get picked up by read_xlsx(). This is because only the formula is written and left to Excel to evaluate the formula when the file is opened in Excel. The string "_openxlsx_NA" is reserved for openxlsx2. If the data frame contains this string, the output will be broken.

Supported classes are data frames, matrices and vectors of various types and everything that can be converted into a data frame with as.data.frame(). Everything else that the user wants to write should either be converted into a vector or data frame or written in vector or data frame segments. This includes base classes such as table, which were coerced internally in the predecessor of this package.

Even vectors and data frames can consist of different classes. Many base classes are covered, though not all and far from all third-party classes. When data of an unknown class is written, it is handled with as.character(). It is not possible to write character nodes beginning with ⁠<r>⁠ or ⁠<r/>⁠. Both are reserved for internal functions. If you need these. You have to wrap the input string in fmt_txt().

The columns of x with class Date/POSIXt, currency, accounting, hyperlink, percentage are automatically styled as dates, currency, accounting, hyperlinks, percentages respectively.

Functions wb_add_data() and wb_add_data_table() behave quite similar. The distinction is that the latter creates a table in the worksheet that can be used for different kind of formulas and can be sorted independently, though is less flexible than basic cell regions.

openxlsx2 documentation built on April 3, 2025, 8:40 p.m.