char: Format a character vector

In tibble: Simple Data Frames

Format a character vector

Description

Constructs a character vector that can be formatted with predefined minimum width or without width restrictions, and where the abbreviation style can be configured.

The formatting is applied when the vector is printed or formatted, and also in a tibble column.

set_char_opts() adds formatting options to an arbitrary character vector, useful for composing with other types.

Usage

char(
  x,
  ...,
  min_chars = NULL,
  shorten = c("back", "front", "mid", "abbreviate")
)

set_char_opts(
  x,
  ...,
  min_chars = NULL,
  shorten = c("back", "front", "mid", "abbreviate")
)

Arguments

x	A character vector.
...	These dots are for future extensions and must be empty.
min_chars	The minimum width to allocate to this column, defaults to 15. The "pillar.min_chars" option is not consulted.
shorten	How to abbreviate the data if necessary: "back" (default): add an ellipsis at the end "front": add an ellipsis at the front "mid": add an ellipsis in the middle "abbreviate": use abbreviate()

See Also

Other vector classes: num()

Examples

# Display as a vector:
char(letters[1:3])

# Space constraints:
rand_strings <- stringi::stri_rand_strings(10, seq(40, 22, by = -2))

# Plain character vectors get truncated if space is limited:
data_with_id <- function(id) {
  tibble(
    id,
    some_number_1 = 1, some_number_2 = 2, some_number_3 = 3,
    some_number_4 = 4, some_number_5 = 5, some_number_6 = 6,
    some_number_7 = 7, some_number_8 = 8, some_number_9 = 9
  )
}
data_with_id(rand_strings)

# Use char() to avoid or control truncation
data_with_id(char(rand_strings, min_chars = 24))
data_with_id(char(rand_strings, min_chars = Inf))
data_with_id(char(rand_strings, min_chars = 24, shorten = "mid"))

# Lorem Ipsum, one sentence per row.
lipsum <- unlist(strsplit(stringi::stri_rand_lipsum(1), "(?<=[.]) +", perl = TRUE))
tibble(
  back = char(lipsum, shorten = "back"),
  front = char(lipsum, shorten = "front"),
  mid = char(lipsum, shorten = "mid")
)
tibble(abbr = char(lipsum, shorten = "abbreviate"))

tibble documentation built on March 31, 2023, 11 p.m.