messages: Print Styled Messages
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messages

R Documentation

Print Styled Messages

Description

Printing styled messages for different occasions. There are notifications, warnings, errors, function call headlines, progress and function closing messages. Or just a neutral one.

Usage

print_message(
  type,
  text,
  ...,
  always_print = FALSE,
  utf8 = .qol_messages[["format"]][["utf8"]],
  no_color = .qol_messages[["no_color"]]
)

print_headline(
  text,
  ...,
  line_char = "=",
  max_width = getOption("width"),
  always_print = FALSE,
  utf8 = .qol_messages[["format"]][["utf8"]],
  no_color = .qol_messages[["no_color"]]
)

print_start_message(
  current_time = Sys.time(),
  caller_color = "#63C2C9",
  always_print = FALSE,
  suppress = FALSE,
  utf8 = .qol_messages[["format"]][["utf8"]],
  no_color = .qol_messages[["no_color"]]
)

print_closing(
  time_threshold = 2,
  start_time = .qol_messages[["start_time"]],
  caller_color = "#63C2C9",
  always_print = FALSE,
  suppress = FALSE,
  utf8 = .qol_messages[["format"]][["utf8"]],
  no_color = .qol_messages[["no_color"]]
)

print_step(
  type,
  text,
  ...,
  in_place = FALSE,
  always_print = FALSE,
  utf8 = .qol_messages[["format"]][["utf8"]],
  no_color = .qol_messages[["no_color"]]
)

set_up_custom_message(
  type = "UNICORN",
  color = "#FF00FF",
  ansi_icon = NULL,
  text_icon = "^",
  ansi_wait_icon = NULL,
  text_wait_icon = "?",
  indent = 1,
  text_bold = FALSE,
  text_italic = FALSE,
  text_underline = FALSE,
  text_color = NULL,
  time_color = "#6B6B6B"
)

Arguments

`type`	If displayed as a normal note, then this is the text displayed in front of the message. This also appears as type in the message stack.
`text`	The message text to display.
`...`	Additional information to display like variable names. To use these write [NAME YOU PUT IN] in the text.
`always_print`	FALSE by default. If TRUE, prints headlines even in deeper nested situations.
`utf8`	Whether to display complex characters or just plain text.
`no_color`	Whether to display color codes or suppress them.
`line_char`	The character that that forms the line.
`max_width`	The maximum number of characters drawn, which determines the line length of the headline.
`current_time`	The current time to create a time stamp.
`caller_color`	Hex color code for the displayed caller function.
`suppress`	FALSE by default. If TRUE triggers all the message procedures to create a message stack but doesn't print the message to the console.
`time_threshold`	The total time spent is displayed in different colors from green over yellow to red, depending on the threshold specified (in seconds).
`start_time`	The time at which the function call started to calculate the time difference and output the total time spent.
`in_place`	Prints the step message on the same line as before, instead of in the next line. This can e.g. be used inside loops.
`color`	The color of the message type.
`ansi_icon`	The icon used when message is displayed in utf8 mode.
`text_icon`	The icon used when message is displayed in text only mode.
`ansi_wait_icon`	The icon used when a timed message is waiting for the end of execution displayed in utf8 mode.
`text_wait_icon`	The icon used when a timed message is waiting for the end of execution displayed in text only mode.
`indent`	How many spaces to indent the message.
`text_bold`	FALSE by default. If TRUE prints the message text in bold letters.
`text_italic`	FALSE by default. If TRUE prints the message text in italic letters.
`text_underline`	FALSE by default. If TRUE prints the message text underlined.
`text_color`	The color of the actual message text.
`time_color`	The color used for the time stamps.

Details

The message types in which you can enter custom texts, are capable of using different styling operators. These are:

Insert list of elements: [vector_name]
Adding conditional words, if list of elements has more than one element: [?word]
Adding conditional singular/plural, depending on list of element length: [?singular/plural]
Bold, italic and underline: [b]some text[/b], [i]some text[/i], [u]some text[/u]
Coloring parts of the message: [#FF00FF some text]

Value

Return text without styling or total running time.

set_up_custom_message(): Returns the global list of custom messages.

Examples

# Example messages
print_message("NOTE", c("Just a quick note that you can also insert e.g.[? a / ]variable",
                        "name[?s] like this: [listing].",
                        "Depending on the number of variables you can also alter the text."),
             listing = c("age", "state", "NUTS3"))

print_message("WARNING", "Just a quick [#FF00FF colored warning]!")

print_message("ERROR", "Or a [b]bold[/b], [i]italic[/i] and [u]underlined[/u] error.")

print_message("NEUTRAL", c("You can also just output [u]plain text[/u] if you like and use",
                           "[#FFFF00 [b]all the different[/b] [i]formatting options.[/i]]"))

# Different headlines
print_headline("This is a headline")

print_headline("[#00FFFF This is a different headline] with some color",
               line_char = "-")

print_headline("[b]This is a very small[/b] and bold headline",
               line_char = ".",
               max_width = 60)

# Messages with time stamps
test_func <- function(){
    print_start_message()
    print_step("GREY", "Probably not so important")
    print_step("MAJOR", "This is a major step...")
    print_step("MINOR", "Sub step1")
    print_step("MINOR", "Sub step2")
    print_step("MINOR", "Sub step3")
    print_step("MAJOR", "[b]Finishing... [/b][#00FFFF with some color again!]")
    print_closing()
}

test_func()

# See what is going on in the message stack
message_stack <- get_message_stack()

# Print messages on the same line instead of below each other
in_place_steps <- function(){
    print_start_message()

    print_step("MAJOR", "Let's get started...")

    for (i in seq_len(10)){
        print_step("Minor", "This is in place step [i] of 10", i = i, in_place = TRUE)
        Sys.sleep(0.25)
    }

    print_step("MAJOR", "Loop has ended")

    print_closing()
}

in_place_steps()

# Set up a custom message
set_up_custom_message(type           = "HOTDOG",
                      color          = "#B27A01",
                      ansi_icon      = "\U0001f32d",
                      text_icon      = "IOI",
                      ansi_wait_icon = "\U00023f1",
                      text_wait_icon = "/",
                      indent         = 1)

hotdog_print <- function(){
    print_start_message()
    print_message("HOTDOG", c("This is the first hotdog message! Hurray!",
                              "And it is also multiline in this version."))
    print_step("HOTDOG", "Or use as single line message with time stamps.")
    Sys.sleep(0.5)
    print_step("HOTDOG", "Or use as single line message with time stamps.")
    Sys.sleep(0.5)
    print_step("HOTDOG", "Or use as single line message with time stamps.")
    Sys.sleep(0.5)
    print_closing()
}

hotdog_print()

# See new message in the message stack
hotdog_stack <- get_message_stack()

qol documentation built on June 17, 2026, 1:07 a.m.