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[Experimental]

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])
#> <pillar_char[3]>
#> [1] a b c
# 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)
#> # A tibble: 10 × 10
#>    id      some_…¹ some_…² some_…³ some_…⁴ some_…⁵ some_…⁶ some_…⁷ some_…⁸
#>    <chr>     <dbl>   <dbl>   <dbl>   <dbl>   <dbl>   <dbl>   <dbl>   <dbl>
#>  1 WJSsxf…       1       2       3       4       5       6       7       8
#>  2 HQOlqj…       1       2       3       4       5       6       7       8
#>  3 GR8hYm…       1       2       3       4       5       6       7       8
#>  4 dO0k5C…       1       2       3       4       5       6       7       8
#>  5 3yKhjZ…       1       2       3       4       5       6       7       8
#>  6 uyWa9T…       1       2       3       4       5       6       7       8
#>  7 UaiZMc…       1       2       3       4       5       6       7       8
#>  8 z2qYwl…       1       2       3       4       5       6       7       8
#>  9 ek4O7h…       1       2       3       4       5       6       7       8
#> 10 YCRHBt…       1       2       3       4       5       6       7       8
#> # … with 1 more variable: some_number_9 <dbl>, and abbreviated variable
#> #   names ¹​some_number_1, ²​some_number_2, ³​some_number_3, ⁴​some_number_4,
#> #   ⁵​some_number_5, ⁶​some_number_6, ⁷​some_number_7, ⁸​some_number_8

# Use char() to avoid or control truncation
data_with_id(char(rand_strings, min_chars = 24))
#> # A tibble: 10 × 10
#>    id                              some_…¹ some_…² some_…³ some_…⁴ some_…⁵
#>    <char>                            <dbl>   <dbl>   <dbl>   <dbl>   <dbl>
#>  1 WJSsxf5RPiDjFRy7iVoadHgnz4uveI…       1       2       3       4       5
#>  2 HQOlqjZavreUgr3GXLoDX6mpkxihE2…       1       2       3       4       5
#>  3 GR8hYmPYrwJG9UsJm9A47KvwLTo2FQ…       1       2       3       4       5
#>  4 dO0k5CLEp9McpsCkmBt5wkYOioyg9C…       1       2       3       4       5
#>  5 3yKhjZZbegjEYOJm1HIxNkWvYx8Ozl…       1       2       3       4       5
#>  6 uyWa9TGFPzGkVAZsJlCaIHvalJsvMC        1       2       3       4       5
#>  7 UaiZMcOCjm7Lh2Gthq6NgOGsJbR2          1       2       3       4       5
#>  8 z2qYwlo7fldemmrE772uCYLrI6            1       2       3       4       5
#>  9 ek4O7hFxIud6K9YsvhQTB6Oe              1       2       3       4       5
#> 10 YCRHBt1kj2i9JnNgyaa5MB                1       2       3       4       5
#> # … with 4 more variables: some_number_6 <dbl>, some_number_7 <dbl>,
#> #   some_number_8 <dbl>, some_number_9 <dbl>, and abbreviated variable
#> #   names ¹​some_number_1, ²​some_number_2, ³​some_number_3, ⁴​some_number_4,
#> #   ⁵​some_number_5
data_with_id(char(rand_strings, min_chars = Inf))
#> # A tibble: 10 × 10
#>    id                                       some_number_1 some_n…¹ some_…²
#>    <char>                                           <dbl>    <dbl>   <dbl>
#>  1 WJSsxf5RPiDjFRy7iVoadHgnz4uveIpMlA7Qaqjz             1        2       3
#>  2 HQOlqjZavreUgr3GXLoDX6mpkxihE20qyTAB45               1        2       3
#>  3 GR8hYmPYrwJG9UsJm9A47KvwLTo2FQEkuqMT                 1        2       3
#>  4 dO0k5CLEp9McpsCkmBt5wkYOioyg9COiuR                   1        2       3
#>  5 3yKhjZZbegjEYOJm1HIxNkWvYx8Ozl85                     1        2       3
#>  6 uyWa9TGFPzGkVAZsJlCaIHvalJsvMC                       1        2       3
#>  7 UaiZMcOCjm7Lh2Gthq6NgOGsJbR2                         1        2       3
#>  8 z2qYwlo7fldemmrE772uCYLrI6                           1        2       3
#>  9 ek4O7hFxIud6K9YsvhQTB6Oe                             1        2       3
#> 10 YCRHBt1kj2i9JnNgyaa5MB                               1        2       3
#> # … with 6 more variables: some_number_4 <dbl>, some_number_5 <dbl>,
#> #   some_number_6 <dbl>, some_number_7 <dbl>, some_number_8 <dbl>,
#> #   some_number_9 <dbl>, and abbreviated variable names ¹​some_number_2,
#> #   ²​some_number_3
data_with_id(char(rand_strings, min_chars = 24, shorten = "mid"))
#> # A tibble: 10 × 10
#>    id                              some_…¹ some_…² some_…³ some_…⁴ some_…⁵
#>    <char>                            <dbl>   <dbl>   <dbl>   <dbl>   <dbl>
#>  1 WJSsxf5RPiDjFRy…4uveIpMlA7Qaqjz       1       2       3       4       5
#>  2 HQOlqjZavreUgr3…pkxihE20qyTAB45       1       2       3       4       5
#>  3 GR8hYmPYrwJG9Us…KvwLTo2FQEkuqMT       1       2       3       4       5
#>  4 dO0k5CLEp9McpsC…5wkYOioyg9COiuR       1       2       3       4       5
#>  5 3yKhjZZbegjEYOJ…HIxNkWvYx8Ozl85       1       2       3       4       5
#>  6 uyWa9TGFPzGkVAZsJlCaIHvalJsvMC        1       2       3       4       5
#>  7 UaiZMcOCjm7Lh2Gthq6NgOGsJbR2          1       2       3       4       5
#>  8 z2qYwlo7fldemmrE772uCYLrI6            1       2       3       4       5
#>  9 ek4O7hFxIud6K9YsvhQTB6Oe              1       2       3       4       5
#> 10 YCRHBt1kj2i9JnNgyaa5MB                1       2       3       4       5
#> # … with 4 more variables: some_number_6 <dbl>, some_number_7 <dbl>,
#> #   some_number_8 <dbl>, some_number_9 <dbl>, and abbreviated variable
#> #   names ¹​some_number_1, ²​some_number_2, ³​some_number_3, ⁴​some_number_4,
#> #   ⁵​some_number_5

# 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")
)
#> # A tibble: 10 × 3
#>    back                                                        front mid  
#>    <char>                                                      <cha> <cha>
#>  1 Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, sit et auctor lacinia etiam co… …iis. Lo…s.
#>  2 Laoreet in nec diam ut suspendisse adipiscing suspendisse … …pis. La…s.
#>  3 Eleifend eleifend, metus nunc turpis.                       …pis. El…s.
#>  4 Augue massa lobortis faucibus velit efficitur ac faucibus.  …bus. Au…s.
#>  5 Elit egestas egestas sit amet ut conubia faucibus facilisi. …isi. El…i.
#>  6 Tempor urna nisi feugiat senectus.                          …tus. Te…s.
#>  7 Nunc in pretium dui ac.                                     … ac. Nu…c.
#>  8 Elit semper eu.                                             … eu. El…u.
#>  9 Sapien congue, dictum massa sed posuere sagittis.           …tis. Sa…s.
#> 10 Interdum ante aenean, nisi dapibus lacinia nulla laoreet, … …bus. In…s.
tibble(abbr = char(lipsum, shorten = "abbreviate"))
#> # A tibble: 10 × 1
#>    abbr                                                                   
#>    <char>                                                                 
#>  1 Loremipsumdolorsitamet,sitetauctorlacinetiamcommodo!Tincidntd,nslvtscs.
#>  2 Laoreetinnecdiamutsuspendissadipiscingsuspendissconubtortorrissdnctrps.
#>  3 Eleifend eleifend, metus nunc turpis.                                  
#>  4 Augue massa lobortis faucibus velit efficitur ac faucibus.             
#>  5 Elit egestas egestas sit amet ut conubia faucibus facilisi.            
#>  6 Tempor urna nisi feugiat senectus.                                     
#>  7 Nunc in pretium dui ac.                                                
#>  8 Elit semper eu.                                                        
#>  9 Sapien congue, dictum massa sed posuere sagittis.                      
#> 10 Interdumanteaenean,nisidapibuslacinianulllaoreet,felisultriciesdapibus.