import_export: High Level Import From And Export To CSV And XLSX

In qol: Powerful 'SAS' Inspired Concepts for more Efficient Bigger Outputs

High Level Import From And Export To CSV And XLSX

Description

import_data(): A wrapper for data.table::fread() and openxlsx2::wb_to_df(), providing basic import functionality with minimal code.

import_multi(): Runs multiple imports on all provided files. Is able to import all sheets from xlsx files.

export_data(): A wrapper for data.table::fwrite() and openxlsx2::wb_save(), providing basic export functionality with minimal code.

export_multi(): Runs multiple exports on a list of data frames. Is able to export to a single xlsx file with multiple sheets.

Usage

import_data(
  infile,
  sheet = 1,
  region = NULL,
  separator = "auto",
  decimal = "auto",
  var_names = TRUE
)

import_multi(
  file_list,
  sheet = "all",
  region = NULL,
  separator = "auto",
  decimal = "auto",
  var_names = TRUE
)

export_data(
  data_frame,
  outfile,
  separator = ";",
  decimal = ",",
  var_names = TRUE
)

export_multi(
  file_list,
  out_path,
  into_sheets = TRUE,
  separator = NULL,
  decimal = ",",
  var_names = TRUE
)

Arguments

infile	Full file path with extension to a csv or xlsx file to be imported.
sheet	Only used in xlsx import. Which sheet of the workbook to import.
region	Only used in xlsx import. Can either be an 'Excel' range like 'A1:BY27' or the name of a named region.
separator	Only used in CSV-export. Defines the single character value separator.
decimal	Only used in CSV-export. Defines the single character decimal character.
var_names	TRUE by default. Whether to export variable names or not.
file_list	import_multi(): A character vector containing full file paths. export_multi(): A list of data frames.
data_frame	A data frame to export.
outfile	Full file path with extension. Allowed extensions are ".csv" and ".xlsx".
out_path	The file path where to save the exported files.
into_sheets	TRUE by default. Whether to export all data frames into multiple sheets of a single xlsx file or into separate xlsx files.

Details

import_data() and export_data() are based on the 'SAS' procedures Proc Import and Proc Export, which provide a very straight forward syntax. While 'SAS' can import many different formats with these procedures, these 'R' versions concentrate on importing CSV and XLSX files.

The main goal here is to just provide as few as possible parameters to tackle most of the imports and exports. These error handling also tries to let an import and export happen, even though a parameter wasn't provided in the correct way.

Value

Returns a data frame.

Multi functions: Returns a list of data frames.

See Also

Functions that can export with style: frequencies(), crosstabs(), any_table(), export_with_style().

Creating a custom table style: excel_output_style(), modify_output_style(), number_format_style(), modify_number_formats().

Global style options: set_style_options(), set_variable_labels(), set_stat_labels().

Examples

# Example files
csv_file  <- system.file("extdata", "qol_example_data.csv",  package = "qol")
xlsx_file <- system.file("extdata", "qol_example_data.xlsx", package = "qol")

# Import: Provide full file path
my_csv  <- import_data(csv_file)
my_xlsx <- import_data(xlsx_file)

# Import specific regions
range_import <- import_data(xlsx_file, region = "B4:H32")
name_import  <- import_data(xlsx_file, region = "test_region")

# Import from another sheet
sheet_import <- import_data(xlsx_file, sheet = "Sheet 2")

# Import multiple files at once
all_files <- import_multi(c(csv_file, xlsx_file))

# Example data frame
my_data <- dummy_data(100)

# Example export file paths
export_csv  <- tempfile(fileext = ".csv")
export_xlsx <- tempfile(fileext = ".xlsx")

# Export: Provide full file path
my_data |> export_data(export_csv)
my_data |> export_data(export_xlsx)

# Example data frame list
my_list <- list(first  = dummy_data(10),
                second = dummy_data(10))

# Export multiple data frames into one xlsx file
# with multiple sheets
export_multi(my_list, tempdir())

# Export multiple data frames into multiple xlsx files
export_multi(my_list, tempdir(), into_sheets = FALSE)

# Export multiple data frames into multiple csv files
export_multi(my_list, tempdir(), separator = ";")

# Manual cleanup for example
file1 <- file.path(tempdir(), "my_list.xlsx")
file2 <- file.path(tempdir(), "first.xlsx")
file3 <- file.path(tempdir(), "second.xlsx")
file4 <- file.path(tempdir(), "first.csv")
file5 <- file.path(tempdir(), "second.csv")

unlink(c(export_csv, export_xlsx,
         file1, file2, file3, file4, file5))

qol documentation built on March 11, 2026, 1:06 a.m.