textables: Customized LaTeX tables in R

Created by Thibaut Lamadon and Bradley Setzler, University of Chicago

This package produces highly-customized LaTeX tables in R. There are two key functions:

• TR: Form a row in a LaTeX tabular environment.
• TS: Compile a textable object to produce a PDF file of the table.

It supports building a table in blocks, in the spirit of ggplot2, using the + and %:% operators for concatenation.

To install, run:

devtools::install_github("setzler/textables")

library(textables)

Here is an example of the type of table that this package can easily construct:

1. Character Rows with TR

Purpose

When applied to a character vector, TR produces the row of a LaTeX tabular.

TR supports LaTeX math mode, fonts, etc., but requires a double-escape (two back slashes instead of the usual one in LaTeX).

Example

vec <- c('Hello','\\textbf{World}','$\\alpha$','$\\frac{1}{2}$')

# produce a LaTeX tabular row
TR(vec)

## % created using textables on Sat May 16 11:14:19 PM 2020
## \begin{tabular}{rrrr}
## Hello & \textbf{World} & $\alpha$ & $\frac{1}{2}$ \\
## \end{tabular}

2. Numeric Rows with TR

Purpose

When applied to a numeric vector, TR produces the row of a LaTeX tabular. Numeric formatting options include:

• dec: control decimal places, for example, dec=3 displays 3 decimal places;
• se: surround numbers with parenthesis with se=TRUE;
• percentage: add a percentage sign to each number with percentage=TRUE;
• pvalues: use p-values to add stars to indicating significance, for example, pvalues=c(0.005,0.05) would add 3 stars and 2 stars, respectively.
• cspan: column span.

We also provide the surround argument for a general syntax to modify values. We could use it to change the font of each number in a row, as shown in the example below.

Note that dec can be combined with any other options.

Examples:

Decimal places: dec

vec <- c(1.0, 1.01, 1.001)

# round to the 2nd decimal place
TR(vec, dec=2)

## % created using textables on Sat May 16 11:14:19 PM 2020
## \begin{tabular}{rrr}
## 1.00 & 1.01 & 1.00 \\
## \end{tabular}

# different rounding for each value
TR(vec, dec=c(3,2,1))

## % created using textables on Sat May 16 11:14:19 PM 2020
## \begin{tabular}{rrr}
## 1.000 & 1.01 & 1.0 \\
## \end{tabular}

Standard errors: se

# treat all values as standard errors
TR(vec, se=T)

## % created using textables on Sat May 16 11:14:19 PM 2020
## \begin{tabular}{rrr}
## (1.0000) & (1.0100) & (1.0010) \\
## \end{tabular}

# treat some values as standard errors
TR(vec, dec=c(3,2,1), se=c(T,T,F))

## % created using textables on Sat May 16 11:14:19 PM 2020
## \begin{tabular}{rrr}
## (1.000) & (1.01) & 1.0 \\
## \end{tabular}

Percent symbols: percentage

# treat all values as percentages
TR(vec, percentage=T)

## % created using textables on Sat May 16 11:14:19 PM 2020
## \begin{tabular}{rrr}
## 1.0000\% & 1.0100\% & 1.0010\% \\
## \end{tabular}

# treat some values as percentages
TR(vec, dec=c(3,2,1), percentage=c(T,T,F))

## % created using textables on Sat May 16 11:14:19 PM 2020
## \begin{tabular}{rrr}
## 1.000\% & 1.01\% & 1.0 \\
## \end{tabular}

Stars for statistical significance: pvalues

# add stars by providing p-values
TR(vec, dec=c(3,2,1), pvalues=c(.01,.05,.1))

## % created using textables on Sat May 16 11:14:19 PM 2020
## \begin{tabular}{rrr}
## 1.000*** & 1.01** & 1.0* \\
## \end{tabular}

General modification of each value: surround

# turn all numbers red
TR(vec, surround = "{\\color{red} %s}")

## % created using textables on Sat May 16 11:14:19 PM 2020
## \begin{tabular}{rrr}
## {\color{red} 1.0000} & {\color{red} 1.0100} & {\color{red} 1.0010} \\
## \end{tabular}

Column span: cspan

# span two columns with the middle number
TR(vec, dec=c(3,2,1), cspan=c(1,2,1))

## % created using textables on Sat May 16 11:14:19 PM 2020
## \begin{tabular}{rrr}
## 1.000 & \multicolumn{2}{c}{1.01} & 1.0 \\
## \end{tabular}

3. Concatenation

Purpose

• +: binds rows together vertically. It allows us to have multiple rows in a tabular.
• %:%: binds columns together horizontally. It allows us to include both character and numeric vectors in the same row.

Examples

# include character and numeric values in the same row
tab <- TR("Hello") %:% TR(c(1,2),percentage=T)

# bind with another row
tab + TR("\\textbf{World}") %:% TR(c(1,2),se=T)

## % created using textables on Sat May 16 11:14:19 PM 2020
## \begin{tabular}{rrr}
## Hello & 1.0000\% & 2.0000\% \\
## \textbf{World} & (1.0000) & (2.0000) \\
## \end{tabular}

4. Other Formatting Functions

Purpose

• vspace: add vertical space between rows.
• midrule: add a horizontal line.
• midrulep: add a partial horizontal line.

Examples

Vertical space: vspace

# bind with another row separated by 3pt vertical space
tab + vspace(3) + TR("\\textbf{World}") %:% TR(c(1,2),se=T)

## % created using textables on Sat May 16 11:14:19 PM 2020
## \begin{tabular}{rrr}
## Hello & 1.0000\% & 2.0000\% \\[3pt]
## \textbf{World} & (1.0000) & (2.0000) \\
## \end{tabular}

Horizontal rule: midrule

# bind with another row separated by horizontal line
tab + midrule() + TR("\\textbf{World}") %:% TR(c(1,2),se=T)

## % created using textables on Sat May 16 11:14:19 PM 2020
## \begin{tabular}{rrr}
## Hello & 1.0000\% & 2.0000\% \\
## \midrule 
## \textbf{World} & (1.0000) & (2.0000) \\
## \end{tabular}

Partial horizontal rule(s): midrulep

# bind with another row separated by a partial horizontal line
tab + midrulep(list(c(2,3))) + TR("\\textbf{World}") %:% TR(c(1,2),se=T)

## % created using textables on Sat May 16 11:14:19 PM 2020
## \begin{tabular}{rrr}
## Hello & 1.0000\% & 2.0000\% \\
##  \cmidrule(lr){2-3} 
## \textbf{World} & (1.0000) & (2.0000) \\
## \end{tabular}

5. Export to PDF with TS

Purpose

TS calls pdflatex to convert the textables object into a PDF file.

• file: name of PDF (must end in .pdf)
• pretty_rules: includes double-rules at the top and bottom of the table. Default is TRUE.
• header: character vector with alignment of rows. Must be same length as number of rows.
• output_path: Directory path in which to place the PDF. Default is getwd(), i.e., the current directory.

Example

Simple Example:

tab <- TR("hello") %:% TR(0.1)

TS(tab, file="simple_example", pretty_rules=T, header=c('l','c'), output_path=paste0(getwd(),"/inst"))

Complex Example:

library(data.table)

dd <- data.table(
    sample = c("Full Sample", "Full Sample", "Subsample", "Subsample"), 
    controls = c("No", "Yes", "No", "Yes"), 
    coef = c(1.17, 1.59, 1.105, 1.69),
    SEs = c(.6, .481, .789, .8), 
    pvals = c(.051, .001, .16, .091), 
    N = c(1234567, 1234567, 891011, 891011)
  )


tab <- TR(c("","Full Sample","Subsample"),cspan=c(1,2,2)) +
  vspace(5) +
  midrulep(list(c(2,3),c(4,5))) +
  TR("Controls") %:% with(dd, TR(controls)) +
  midrule()

tab <- tab +  TR("Coefficient ($\\tilde{\\beta}_\\nu$)") %:% 
      with(dd, TR(coef, pvalues=pvals, dec=2)) +  
  TR("Std. Error") %:% with(dd, TR(SEs, se=T, dec=2, surround = "{\\color{blue} %s}"))  + 
  midrule() + TR("Sample Size",surround="\\textbf{ %s}") %:% 
      with(dd, TR(unique(N), cspan=c(2,2), dec=0))


TS(tab, file="complex_example", pretty_rules=T, header=c('r',rep('c',4)), output_path=paste0(getwd(),"/inst"))

The complex_example result is shown at the beginning of this document.