Most of objects encountered throughout the easystats packages are “tables”, i.e., a 2D matrix with columns and rows. In R, these objects are often, at their core, data frames. Let’s create one to use as an example:
library(insight)
library(dplyr)
df <- data.frame(
Variable = c(1, 3, 5, 3, 1),
Group = c("A", "A", "A", "B", "B"),
CI = c(0.95, 0.95, 0.95, 0.95, 0.95),
CI_low = c(3.35, 2.425, 6.213, 12.1, 1.23),
CI_high = c(4.23, 5.31, 7.123, 13.5, 3.61),
p = c(0.001, 0.0456, 0.45, 0.0042, 0.34)
)
df
#> Variable Group CI CI_low CI_high p
#> 1 1 A 0.95 3.350 4.230 0.0010
#> 2 3 A 0.95 2.425 5.310 0.0456
#> 3 5 A 0.95 6.213 7.123 0.4500
#> 4 3 B 0.95 12.100 13.500 0.0042
#> 5 1 B 0.95 1.230 3.610 0.3400When I display in in the console (calling an object - e.g. df - is actually equivalent to calling print(df)), the output looks alright, but it could be improved. Some packages, such as knitr, have functions to create a nicer output. For instance, in markdown, so that it can be nicely rendered in markdown documents when copied:
| Variable | Group | CI | CI_low | CI_high | p |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | 0.95 | 3.350 | 4.230 | 0.0010 |
| 3 | A | 0.95 | 2.425 | 5.310 | 0.0456 |
| 5 | A | 0.95 | 6.213 | 7.123 | 0.4500 |
| 3 | B | 0.95 | 12.100 | 13.500 | 0.0042 |
| 1 | B | 0.95 | 1.230 | 3.610 | 0.3400 |
Or HTML, which again makes it look great in HTML files. For instance, this code:
Will be rendered like this:
| Variable | Group | CI | CI_low | CI_high | p |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | 0.95 | 3.350 | 4.230 | 0.0010 |
| 3 | A | 0.95 | 2.425 | 5.310 | 0.0456 |
| 5 | A | 0.95 | 6.213 | 7.123 | 0.4500 |
| 3 | B | 0.95 | 12.100 | 13.500 | 0.0042 |
| 1 | B | 0.95 | 1.230 | 3.610 | 0.3400 |
The insight package also contains function to improve the “printing”, or rendering, of tables. Its design dissociates two separate and independent steps: formatting and exporting.
The purpose of formatting is to improve a given table, while still keeping it as a regular R data frame, so that it can be for instance further modified by the user.
insight::format_table(df)
#> Variable Group 95% CI p
#> 1 1.00 A [ 3.35, 4.23] 0.001
#> 2 3.00 A [ 2.42, 5.31] 0.046
#> 3 5.00 A [ 6.21, 7.12] 0.450
#> 4 3.00 B [12.10, 13.50] 0.004
#> 5 1.00 B [ 1.23, 3.61] 0.340As you can see, format_table() modifies columns, turning number into characters (so that it has the same amount of digits), and detecting confidence intervals. This is usually combined with column-specific formatting functions, like format_p():
The next step is exporting, which takes a data frame and renders it in a given format, so that it looks good in the console, or in markdown, HTML or latex.
TODO: to complete, as it’s not clear for me either!
cat(export_table(df))
#> Variable | Group | CI | CI_low | CI_high | p
#> -----------------------------------------------------
#> 1 | A | 0.95 | 3.35 | 4.23 | 1.00e-03
#> 3 | A | 0.95 | 2.42 | 5.31 | 0.05
#> 5 | A | 0.95 | 6.21 | 7.12 | 0.45
#> 3 | B | 0.95 | 12.10 | 13.50 | 4.20e-03
#> 1 | B | 0.95 | 1.23 | 3.61 | 0.34TODO: What about display?