Create a gt table object

The gt() function creates a gt table object when provided with tabledata. Using this function is the first step in a typical gt workflow.Once we have the gt table object, we can perform styling transformationsbefore rendering to a display table of various formats.

Usage

gt( data, rowname_col = "rowname", groupname_col = dplyr::group_vars(data), process_md = FALSE, caption = NULL, rownames_to_stub = FALSE, row_group_as_column = FALSE, auto_align = TRUE, id = NULL, locale = NULL, row_group.sep = getOption("gt.row_group.sep", " - "))

Arguments

data

Input data table

obj:<data.frame>|obj:<tbl_df> // required

A data.frame object or a tibble (tbl_df).

rowname_col

Column for row names/labels from data

scalar<character> // default: NULL (optional)

The column name in the input data table to use as row labels to be placedin the table stub. If the rownames_to_stub option is TRUE then anycolumn name provided to rowname_col will be ignored.

groupname_col

Column for group names/labels from data

scalar<character> // default: NULL (optional)

The column name in the input data table to use as group labels forgeneration of row groups. If the input data table has the grouped_dfclass (through use of dplyr::group_by() or associated group_by*()functions) then any input here is ignored.

process_md

Process Markdown in rowname_col and groupname_col

scalar<logical> // default: FALSE

Should the contents of the rowname_col and groupname_col be interpretedas Markdown? By default this won't happen.

caption

Table caption text

scalar<character> // default: NULL (optional)

An optional table caption to use for cross-referencing in R Markdown,Quarto, or bookdown.

Value

An object of class gt_tbl.

Details

There are a few data ingest options we can consider at this stage. We canchoose to create a table stub containing row labels through the use of therowname_col argument. Further to this, stub row groups can be created withthe groupname_col argument. Both arguments take the name of a column in theinput table data. Typically, the data in the groupname_col column willconsist of categorical text whereas the data in the rowname_col column willcontain unique labels (could be unique across the entire table or uniquewithin the different row groups).

Row groups can also be created by passing a grouped_df to gt() by usingdplyr::group_by() on the table data. In this way, two or morecolumns of categorical data can be used to make row groups. Therow_group.sep argument allows for control in how the row group labels willappear in the display table.

Examples

Let's use the exibble dataset for the next few examples, we'll learn howto make simple gt tables with the gt() function. The most basic thingto do is to just use gt() with the dataset as the input.

exibble |> gt()

This dataset has the row and group columns. The former contains uniquevalues that are ideal for labeling rows, and this often happens in what iscalled the 'stub' (a reserved area that serves to label rows). With thegt() function, we can immediately place the contents of the row columninto the stub column. To do this, we use the rowname_col argument with thename of the column to use in quotes.

exibble |> gt(rowname_col = "row")

This sets up a table with a stub, the row labels are placed within the stubcolumn, and a vertical dividing line has been placed on the right-hand side.

The group column can be used to divide the rows into discrete groups.Within that column, we see repetitions of the values grp_a and grp_b.These serve both as ID values and the initial label for the groups. With thegroupname_col argument in gt(), we can set up the row groups immediatelyupon creation of the table.

exibble |> gt( rowname_col = "row", groupname_col = "group" )

If you'd rather perform the set up of row groups later (i.e., not in thegt() call), this is possible with tab_row_group() (and row_group_order()can help with the arrangement of row groups).

One more thing to consider with row groups is their layout. By default, rowgroup labels reside in separate rows the appear above the group. However,we can use row_group_as_column = TRUE to put the row group labels within asecondary column within the table stub.

exibble |> gt( rowname_col = "row", groupname_col = "group", row_group_as_column = TRUE )

This could be done later if need be, and usingtab_options(row_group.as_column = TRUE) would be the way to do it outsideof the gt() call.

Some datasets have rownames built in; mtcars famously has the car modelnames as the rownames. To use those rownames as row labels in the stub, therownames_to_stub = TRUE option will prove to be useful.

head(mtcars, 10) |> gt(rownames_to_stub = TRUE)

By default, values in the body of a gt table (and their column labels)are automatically aligned. The alignment is governed by the types of valuesin a column. If you'd like to disable this form of auto-alignment, theauto_align = FALSE option can be taken.

exibble |> gt(rowname_col = "row", auto_align = FALSE)

What you'll get from that is center-alignment of all table body values andall column labels. Note that row labels in the stub are stillleft-aligned; and auto_align has no effect on alignment within the tablestub.

However which way you generate the initial gt table object, you can useit with a huge variety of functions in the package to further customize thepresentation. Formatting body cells is commonly done with the family offormatting functions (e.g., fmt_number(), fmt_date(), etc.). The packagesupports formatting with internationalization ('i18n' features) and solocale-aware functions come with a locale argument. To avoid having to usethat argument repeatedly, the gt() function has its own locale argument.Setting a locale in that will make it available globally. Here's an exampleof how that works in practice when setting locale = "fr" in gt() andusing formatting functions:

exibble |> gt( rowname_col = "row", groupname_col = "group", locale = "fr" ) |> fmt_number() |> fmt_date( columns = date, date_style = "yMEd" ) |> fmt_datetime( columns = datetime, format = "EEEE, MMMM d, y", locale = "en" )

In this example, fmt_number() and fmt_date() understand that the localefor this table is "fr" (French), so the appropriate formatting for thatlocale is apparent in the num, currency, and date columns. However infmt_datetime(), we explicitly use the "en" (English) locale. Thisoverrides the "fr" default set for this table and the end result isdates formatted with the English locale in the datetime column.

Function ID

1-1

Function Introduced

v0.2.0.5 (March 31, 2020)

Create a gt table object — gt (2024)

Usage

Arguments

Value

Details

Examples

Function ID

Function Introduced

See also

References