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Transform objects into string representations

Source: R/generics.R, R/tostring.R
tostring.Rd

Transform a complex object into a string representation ready to be printed or written to a plain-text file.

All objects that are printed to console pass via toString. This function allows fundamental formatting specifications to be applied to final output, like column widths and relative wrapping (width), title and footer wrapping (tf_wrap = TRUE and max_width), and horizontal separator character (e.g. hsep = "+").

Usage 

toString(x, ...)

# S4 method for class 'MatrixPrintForm'
toString(
  x,
  widths = NULL,
  tf_wrap = FALSE,
  max_width = NULL,
  col_gap = mf_colgap(x),
  hsep = NULL,
  fontspec = font_spec(),
  ttype_ok = FALSE
)

Arguments

x

(ANY)
object to be prepared for rendering.

...

additional parameters passed to individual methods.

widths

(numeric or NULL)
Proposed widths for the columns of x. The expected length of this numeric vector can be retrieved with ncol(x) + 1 as the column of row names must also be considered.

tf_wrap

(flag)
whether the text for title, subtitles, and footnotes should be wrapped.

max_width

(integer(1), string or NULL)
width that title and footer (including footnotes) materials should be word-wrapped to. If NULL, it is set to the current print width of the session (getOption("width")). If set to "auto", the width of the table (plus any table inset) is used. Parameter is ignored if tf_wrap = FALSE.

col_gap

(numeric(1))
space (in characters) between columns.

hsep

(string)
character to repeat to create header/body separator line. If NULL, the object value will be used. If " ", an empty separator will be printed. See default_hsep() for more information.

fontspec

(font_spec)
a font_spec object specifying the font information to use for calculating string widths and heights, as returned by font_spec().

ttype_ok

(logical(1))
should truetype (non-monospace) fonts be allowed via fontspec. Defaults to FALSE. This parameter is primarily for internal testing and generally should not be set by end users.

Value

A character string containing the ASCII rendering of the table-like object represented by x.

Details

Manual insertion of newlines is not supported when tf_wrap = TRUE and will result in a warning and undefined wrapping behavior. Passing vectors of already split strings remains supported, however in this case each string is word-wrapped separately with the behavior described above.

See also

wrap_string()

Examples 

mform <- basic_matrix_form(mtcars)
cat(toString(mform))
#>                       mpg    cyl   disp    hp    drat    wt     qsec    vs   am   gear   carb
#> ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
#> Mazda RX4              21     6     160    110   3.9    2.62    16.46   0    1     4      4  
#> Mazda RX4 Wag          21     6     160    110   3.9    2.875   17.02   0    1     4      4  
#> Datsun 710            22.8    4     108    93    3.85   2.32    18.61   1    1     4      1  
#> Hornet 4 Drive        21.4    6     258    110   3.08   3.215   19.44   1    0     3      1  
#> Hornet Sportabout     18.7    8     360    175   3.15   3.44    17.02   0    0     3      2  
#> Valiant               18.1    6     225    105   2.76   3.46    20.22   1    0     3      1  
#> Duster 360            14.3    8     360    245   3.21   3.57    15.84   0    0     3      4  
#> Merc 240D             24.4    4    146.7   62    3.69   3.19     20     1    0     4      2  
#> Merc 230              22.8    4    140.8   95    3.92   3.15    22.9    1    0     4      2  
#> Merc 280              19.2    6    167.6   123   3.92   3.44    18.3    1    0     4      4  
#> Merc 280C             17.8    6    167.6   123   3.92   3.44    18.9    1    0     4      4  
#> Merc 450SE            16.4    8    275.8   180   3.07   4.07    17.4    0    0     3      3  
#> Merc 450SL            17.3    8    275.8   180   3.07   3.73    17.6    0    0     3      3  
#> Merc 450SLC           15.2    8    275.8   180   3.07   3.78     18     0    0     3      3  
#> Cadillac Fleetwood    10.4    8     472    205   2.93   5.25    17.98   0    0     3      4  
#> Lincoln Continental   10.4    8     460    215    3     5.424   17.82   0    0     3      4  
#> Chrysler Imperial     14.7    8     440    230   3.23   5.345   17.42   0    0     3      4  
#> Fiat 128              32.4    4    78.7    66    4.08    2.2    19.47   1    1     4      1  
#> Honda Civic           30.4    4    75.7    52    4.93   1.615   18.52   1    1     4      2  
#> Toyota Corolla        33.9    4    71.1    65    4.22   1.835   19.9    1    1     4      1  
#> Toyota Corona         21.5    4    120.1   97    3.7    2.465   20.01   1    0     3      1  
#> Dodge Challenger      15.5    8     318    150   2.76   3.52    16.87   0    0     3      2  
#> AMC Javelin           15.2    8     304    150   3.15   3.435   17.3    0    0     3      2  
#> Camaro Z28            13.3    8     350    245   3.73   3.84    15.41   0    0     3      4  
#> Pontiac Firebird      19.2    8     400    175   3.08   3.845   17.05   0    0     3      2  
#> Fiat X1-9             27.3    4     79     66    4.08   1.935   18.9    1    1     4      1  
#> Porsche 914-2          26     4    120.3   91    4.43   2.14    16.7    0    1     5      2  
#> Lotus Europa          30.4    4    95.1    113   3.77   1.513   16.9    1    1     5      2  
#> Ford Pantera L        15.8    8     351    264   4.22   3.17    14.5    0    1     5      4  
#> Ferrari Dino          19.7    6     145    175   3.62   2.77    15.5    0    1     5      6  
#> Maserati Bora          15     8     301    335   3.54   3.57    14.6    0    1     5      8  
#> Volvo 142E            21.4    4     121    109   4.11   2.78    18.6    1    1     4      2