R: Format a character vector

char {tibble} | R Documentation

## 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"))

[Package tibble version 3.1.6 Index]