Formatting and exporting a data frame for Word in R

Question

I have a simple dataframe I am trying to export to a word document. I am working with ReporteRs. I want all number to be at the center of the cell (both in the body and the header).

a <- 1:5
b <- 1:5
df <- data.frame(a,b)

According to the documentation "Use ft_object[] <- value to perform the operation on the whole part (body, header or footer) of the FlexTable."

So I try

df_Flex <- FlexTable(df)
setFlexTableWidths(df_Flex, rep(0.5,2))
df_Flex[] <- parProperties(text.align = 'center')

Yet, the results is a table with only the number in the body being at the center. The header is not. If I want both the header and the body to be at the center I have to write two lines of code

df_Flex[] <- parProperties(text.align = 'center')
df_Flex[,,to='header'] <- parProperties(text.align = 'center')

which is annoying because if I want to perform other formatting I will need to write the code twice each time.

Does anyone know why this happens and how to solve the problem?

Stewart Ross · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-14 19:54:26Z

3

Use the functions provided in the flextable package itself, rather than in reporteRs, as these provide a much simpler interface for modifying the body and header parameters. An example using the pipe operator from magrittr or dplyr:

df_Flex2 = 
  regulartable(df) %>%
  width(width = c(0.5, 2)) %>%
  align(align = "center", part = "all")

Edit: Formatting decimal places

To control the number of decimal places shown for non-integer values in a regulartable use the set_formatter function with custom formatting for each column you want to display with different decimal places:

df_Flex2 = 
  regulartable(df) %>%
  set_formatter(a = function(x) sprintf("%.1f", x),
                b = function(x) sprintf("%.1f", x)) %>%
  width(width = c(0.5, 2)) %>%
  align(align = "center", part = "all")
df_Flex2

Output:

If you don't want to name individual columns you can set a revised default for numeric double types by using set_formatter_type in place of set_formatter. This example sets the number of decimal places for doubles in the regulartable to 1 decimal place in a piped expression:

set_formatter_type(fmt_double = "%.1f")

If not used with the pipe (%>%) you'd need to supply the name of the regulartable variable as the first argument:

set_formatter_type(df_Flex2, fmt_double = "%.1f")

edited Feb 14, 2018 at 19:54

answered Feb 14, 2018 at 13:51

Stewart Ross

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4 Comments

Rtist Over a year ago

Thanks, it works. Yet, if I work with decimal numbers, the default is to add "0" until three decimal number (try it with df = data.frame(a=1.1, b=1.1), it will displays 1.100.) I have looked in the documentation but did not find a way to deal with. ReporteRs does not have this behavior.

Stewart Ross Over a year ago

Now added details of how to format numbers. To set 0 decimal places (i.e. whole number only) use sprintf("%.0f", x) in the anonymous functions above.

David Gohel Over a year ago

@StewartRoss thanks for helping (I didn't see that post). I really appreciate this kind of accurate and qualitative help :)

Stewart Ross Over a year ago

You're welcome @David Gohel. You have designed these very, very useful packages, and putting a little help back in for others is the least I can do.

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