How to Print Tables in R

Printing tables in R is a crucial skill for anyone working with data analysis, statistics, or data visualization. Whether you are dealing with large data frames or simple frequency tables, having a clear understanding of how to print these tables effectively can improve both your workflow and the presentation of your results.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Basic Table Printing in R
3. The print() Function
4. Using cat() for Simple Table Printing
5. Pretty Table Printing
   • kable from the knitr Package
   • pander Package
   • formattable Package
6. Advanced Table Printing
   • xtable Package
   • DT Package
7. Exporting Tables
   • Writing to CSV
   • Writing to Excel
   • Writing to LaTeX
   • Writing to HTML
8. Tips and Best Practices
9. Conclusion

1. Introduction

R provides several functions and packages for printing tables, ranging from the basic console output to sophisticated, interactive HTML tables. This article will guide you through the many options available for printing tables in R, covering both basic and advanced methods.

2. Basic Table Printing in R

If you have a data frame, you can print it to the console by simply typing its name and hitting Enter.

# Create a data frame
my_data <- data.frame(Name = c("Alice", "Bob", "Charlie"), Score = c(90, 85, 77))

# Print the data frame
my_data

3. The print( ) Function

The print() function in R provides a way to explicitly print objects to the console. It works with data frames as well as matrices and arrays.

# Using print to display the table
print(my_data)

4. Using cat( ) for Simple Table Printing

The cat() function can be used for printing simple text and can be customized to print simple tables.

cat("Name    Score\n")
cat("---------------\n")
cat("Alice     90\n")
cat("Bob       85\n")
cat("Charlie   77\n")

5. Pretty Table Printing

5.1 kable from the knitr Package

The kable() function from the knitr package is a popular choice for rendering tables in Markdown format. It offers customization options and is commonly used in R Markdown documents.

library(knitr)
kable(my_data)

5.2 pander Package

The pander package provides another way to print tables and is also compatible with R Markdown.

library(pander)
pander(my_data)

5.3 formattable Package

formattable provides rich formatting options, allowing you to create tables with color scales, percent bars, and more.

library(formattable)
formattable(my_data)

6. Advanced Table Printing

6.1 xtable Package

The xtable package allows you to create tables suitable for rendering as LaTeX or HTML tables, ideal for academic papers.

library(xtable)
print(xtable(my_data))

6.2 DT Package

The DT package allows for creating interactive tables using DataTables JavaScript library.

library(DT)
datatable(my_data)

7. Exporting Tables

7.1 Writing to CSV

You can use write.csv() to write a table to a CSV file.

write.csv(my_data, "my_data.csv")

7.2 Writing to Excel

The writexl package allows you to write tables to Excel.

library(writexl)
write_xlsx(my_data, "my_data.xlsx")

7.3 Writing to LaTeX

You can use the xtable package to write a table to LaTeX format.

print(xtable(my_data), type = "latex")

7.4 Writing to HTML

You can use the htmlTable package to generate HTML tables.

library(htmlTable)
htmlTable(my_data)

8. Tips and Best Practices

• Always make sure your table fits in the display medium (be it a webpage, a scientific paper, or the console).
• Use appropriate formatting to make your table easy to read.

9. Conclusion

R provides a multitude of options for printing tables, starting from basic console output to highly customized and interactive HTML tables. Your choice of method will depend on your specific needs, the complexity of the table, and the medium in which you’re displaying it.