data(starwars)
sw <- starwars[, c(1:3, 7:8)]
sw %>% colorDF# Color data frame 5 x 87:
(Showing rows 1 - 20 out of 87)
│name │height│mass │birth_year│gender
1│Luke Skywalker │ 172│ 77│ 19│male
2│C-3PO │ 167│ 75│ 112│NA
3│R2-D2 │ 96│ 32│ 33│NA
4│Darth Vader │ 202│ 136│ 42│male
5│Leia Organa │ 150│ 49│ 19│female
6│Owen Lars │ 178│ 120│ 52│male
7│Beru Whitesun lars │ 165│ 75│ 47│female
8│R5-D4 │ 97│ 32│ NA│NA
9│Biggs Darklighter │ 183│ 84│ 24│male
10│Obi-Wan Kenobi │ 182│ 77│ 57│male
11│Anakin Skywalker │ 188│ 84│ 42│male
12│Wilhuff Tarkin │ 180│ NA│ 64│male
13│Chewbacca │ 228│ 112│ 200│male
14│Han Solo │ 180│ 80│ 29│male
15│Greedo │ 173│ 74│ 44│male
16│Jabba Desilijic Tiure│ 175│ 1358│ 600│hermaphrodite
17│Wedge Antilles │ 170│ 77│ 21│male
18│Jek Tono Porkins │ 180│ 110│ NA│male
19│Yoda │ 66│ 17│ 896│male
20│Palpatine │ 170│ 75│ 82│male
colorDF(sw) %>% summary# Color data frame 5 x 5:
│Col │Class│NAs │unique│Summary
1│name │<chr>│ 0│ 87│All values unique
2│height │<int>│ 6│ 46│ 66 [167 <180> 191] 264
3│mass │<dbl>│ 28│ 39│ 15 [ 56 < 79> 84] 1358
4│birth_year│<dbl>│ 44│ 37│ 8 [ 35 < 52> 72] 896
5│gender │<chr>│ 3│ 5│male: 62, female: 19, none: 2, ...
Your average terminal in which you run R is capable of displaying colors, styles and unicode characters. Wouldn’t it be nice to add some color to the data frames you are displaying? For example, that factors are shown in a distinct color (no confusing of strings and factors any more!) or that significant p-values are colored in red?
This was my motivation when writing this tiny package. Of course, changing default method for printing data frames is nothing a package is allowed to do (but read on!). However, this package defines everything you need to get dynamic, colorful output when viewing data frames. There are two things about colorDF which are important:
[<-, removes row names etc.). The only two things that change are (i) the default print method (visualization), and (ii) the “.style” and “.coltp” attributes of the object, and that only if you really change the class of the object, which is often unnecessary.Yes, you can color any object that can be cast into a data frame with this or related functions! For example, you can apply it to both tibbles and data.table objects:
## works with standard data.frames
colorDF(mtcars)
## works with tidyverse tibbles
mtcars %>% as_tibble %>% colorDF
## works with data.table
colorDF(data.table(mtcars))The output of these three commands is identical:
# Color data frame 11 x 32:
(Showing rows 1 - 20 out of 32)
│mpg │cyl │disp │hp │drat │wt │qsec │vs │am │gear
Mazda RX4│ 21│ 6│ 160│ 110│ 3.9│ 2.6│ 16│ 0│ 1│ 4
Mazda RX4 Wag│ 21│ 6│ 160│ 110│ 3.9│ 2.9│ 17│ 0│ 1│ 4
Datsun 710│ 23│ 4│ 108│ 93│ 3.9│ 2.3│ 19│ 1│ 1│ 4
Hornet 4 Drive│ 21│ 6│ 258│ 110│ 3.1│ 3.2│ 19│ 1│ 0│ 3
Hornet Sportabout│ 19│ 8│ 360│ 175│ 3.1│ 3.4│ 17│ 0│ 0│ 3
Valiant│ 18│ 6│ 225│ 105│ 2.8│ 3.5│ 20│ 1│ 0│ 3
Duster 360│ 14│ 8│ 360│ 245│ 3.2│ 3.6│ 16│ 0│ 0│ 3
Merc 240D│ 24│ 4│ 147│ 62│ 3.7│ 3.2│ 20│ 1│ 0│ 4
Merc 230│ 23│ 4│ 141│ 95│ 3.9│ 3.1│ 23│ 1│ 0│ 4
Merc 280│ 19│ 6│ 168│ 123│ 3.9│ 3.4│ 18│ 1│ 0│ 4
Merc 280C│ 18│ 6│ 168│ 123│ 3.9│ 3.4│ 19│ 1│ 0│ 4
Merc 450SE│ 16│ 8│ 276│ 180│ 3.1│ 4.1│ 17│ 0│ 0│ 3
Merc 450SL│ 17│ 8│ 276│ 180│ 3.1│ 3.7│ 18│ 0│ 0│ 3
Merc 450SLC│ 15│ 8│ 276│ 180│ 3.1│ 3.8│ 18│ 0│ 0│ 3
Cadillac Fleetwood│ 10│ 8│ 472│ 205│ 2.9│ 5.2│ 18│ 0│ 0│ 3
Lincoln Continental│ 10│ 8│ 460│ 215│ 3.0│ 5.4│ 18│ 0│ 0│ 3
Chrysler Imperial│ 15│ 8│ 440│ 230│ 3.2│ 5.3│ 17│ 0│ 0│ 3
Fiat 128│ 32│ 4│ 79│ 66│ 4.1│ 2.2│ 19│ 1│ 1│ 4
Honda Civic│ 30│ 4│ 76│ 52│ 4.9│ 1.6│ 19│ 1│ 1│ 4
Toyota Corolla│ 34│ 4│ 71│ 65│ 4.2│ 1.8│ 20│ 1│ 1│ 4
│carb
Mazda RX4│ 4
Mazda RX4 Wag│ 4
Datsun 710│ 1
Hornet 4 Drive│ 1
Hornet Sportabout│ 2
Valiant│ 1
Duster 360│ 4
Merc 240D│ 2
Merc 230│ 2
Merc 280│ 4
Merc 280C│ 4
Merc 450SE│ 3
Merc 450SL│ 3
Merc 450SLC│ 3
Cadillac Fleetwood│ 4
Lincoln Continental│ 4
Chrysler Imperial│ 4
Fiat 128│ 1
Honda Civic│ 2
Toyota Corolla│ 1
Column types are mostly like classes, but colorDF introduces some additional distinctions, specifically “identifier” (such that character columns which contain identifiers can be shown with a particular, distinct style) and “pval”, to show significant p-values in a different color (and use format.pval() for formatting). Column types are stored in the .coltp attribute of the colorDF object.
colorDF tries to guess how each column should be displayed. First it checks whether any column types have been assigned explicitely using the col_type<- function and stored in the .coltp attribute of the object. Next, it looks up whether it can guess the contents of the column by looking at the column name (ID, p-value). Finally, it determines the class of the column (character, integer, numeric, logical, factor).
To assign a particular column type, you need first to turn a data frame colorful and then modify the column type:
sw <- sw %>% as.colorDF
col_type(sw, "name") <- "identifier"
col_type(sw, "gender") <- "factor"
sw$probability <- runif(nrow(sw), 0, 0.1)
col_type(sw, "probability") <- "pval"
sw# Color data frame 6 x 87:
(Showing rows 1 - 20 out of 87)
│name │height│mass │birth_year│gender │probability
1│ Luke Skywalker│ 172│ 77│ 19│male │0.0917
2│ C-3PO│ 167│ 75│ 112│NA │0.0432
3│ R2-D2│ 96│ 32│ 33│NA │0.0929
4│ Darth Vader│ 202│ 136│ 42│male │0.0471
5│ Leia Organa│ 150│ 49│ 19│female │0.0460
6│ Owen Lars│ 178│ 120│ 52│male │0.0496
7│ Beru Whitesun lars│ 165│ 75│ 47│female │0.0032
8│ R5-D4│ 97│ 32│ NA│NA │4e-05
9│ Biggs Darklighter│ 183│ 84│ 24│male │0.0013
10│ Obi-Wan Kenobi│ 182│ 77│ 57│male │0.0288
11│ Anakin Skywalker│ 188│ 84│ 42│male │0.0497
12│ Wilhuff Tarkin│ 180│ NA│ 64│male │0.0265
13│ Chewbacca│ 228│ 112│ 200│male │0.0807
14│ Han Solo│ 180│ 80│ 29│male │0.0396
15│ Greedo│ 173│ 74│ 44│male │0.0533
16│Jabba Desilijic Tiure│ 175│ 1358│ 600│hermaphrodite│0.0136
17│ Wedge Antilles│ 170│ 77│ 21│male │0.0890
18│ Jek Tono Porkins│ 180│ 110│ NA│male │0.0606
19│ Yoda│ 66│ 17│ 896│male │0.0877
20│ Palpatine│ 170│ 75│ 82│male │0.0945
Note that changing the column type does not change the class of the column in the data frame! colorDF never touches the data frame contents, the only operations concern the “.style” and “.coltp” attributes. So while you may set a column type to “character” instead of “factor”, even though it will be looking like a character type on the terminal output, the column class will still be a factor.
I am a bit confused when it comes to distinguishing the two. Themes are basically internally predefined styles. Styles are simply lists that hold information how different columns, column and row headers, separators between the columns and highlighted rows are displayed.
Themes can be set using the options(colorDF_theme="<theme name>") command or by directly specifying the option in a call to colorDF:
colorDF(sw, theme="bw")# Color data frame 6 x 87:
(Showing rows 1 - 20 out of 87)
│name │height│mass │birth_year│gender │probability
1│ Luke Skywalker│ 172│ 77│ 19│male │0.0917
2│ C-3PO│ 167│ 75│ 112│NA │0.0432
3│ R2-D2│ 96│ 32│ 33│NA │0.0929
4│ Darth Vader│ 202│ 136│ 42│male │0.0471
5│ Leia Organa│ 150│ 49│ 19│female │0.0460
6│ Owen Lars│ 178│ 120│ 52│male │0.0496
7│ Beru Whitesun lars│ 165│ 75│ 47│female │0.0032
8│ R5-D4│ 97│ 32│ NA│NA │4e-05
9│ Biggs Darklighter│ 183│ 84│ 24│male │0.0013
10│ Obi-Wan Kenobi│ 182│ 77│ 57│male │0.0288
11│ Anakin Skywalker│ 188│ 84│ 42│male │0.0497
12│ Wilhuff Tarkin│ 180│ NA│ 64│male │0.0265
13│ Chewbacca│ 228│ 112│ 200│male │0.0807
14│ Han Solo│ 180│ 80│ 29│male │0.0396
15│ Greedo│ 173│ 74│ 44│male │0.0533
16│Jabba Desilijic Tiure│ 175│ 1358│ 600│hermaphrodite│0.0136
17│ Wedge Antilles│ 170│ 77│ 21│male │0.0890
18│ Jek Tono Porkins│ 180│ 110│ NA│male │0.0606
19│ Yoda│ 66│ 17│ 896│male │0.0877
20│ Palpatine│ 170│ 75│ 82│male │0.0945
Here is an overview of the themes. Some of them are intended for dark background and will not look great below:
colorDF_themes_show()Theme light - Suitable for black on white terminals:
# Color data frame 7 x 2:
│ID │String│Factor│Number│Integer│Logical│Pvalue
1│ ID1│foo │foo │ 12.1│ 12│TRUE │0.001
2│ ID2│baz │baz │ -3.1│ -13│FALSE │0.314
Theme minimal - Almost no style:
# Color data frame 7 x 2:
ID String Factor Number Integer Logical Pvalue
1 ID1 foo foo 12.1 12 TRUE 0.001
2 ID2 baz baz -3.14159265358979 -13 FALSE 0.314159
Theme universal - Suitable for all terminals:
# Color data frame 7 x 2:
│ID │String│Factor│Number│Integer│Logical│Pvalue
1│ ID1│foo │foo │ 12.1│ 12│TRUE │0.001
2│ ID2│baz │baz │ -3.1│ -13│FALSE │0.314
Theme tibble - Very much like a tibble:
# Color data frame 7 x 2:
ID String Factor Number Integer Logical Pvalue
<fct> <fct> <fct> <dbl> <int> <lgl> <dbl>
1 ID1 foo foo 12.10 12 TRUE 0.001
2 ID2 baz baz -3.14 -13 FALSE 0.314
Theme dark - Suitable for white on black terminals:
# Color data frame 7 x 2:
│ID │String│Factor│Number│Integer│Logical│Pvalue
1│ ID1│foo │foo │ 12.1│ 12│TRUE │0.001
2│ ID2│baz │baz │ -3.1│ -13│FALSE │0.314
Theme bw - Black and white only. Suitable for black on white terminals:
# Color data frame 7 x 2:
│ID │String│Factor│Number│Integer│Logical│Pvalue
1│ ID1│foo │foo │ 12.1│ 12│TRUE │0.001
2│ ID2│baz │baz │ -3.1│ -13│FALSE │0.314
Theme wb - Black and white only. Suitable for white on black terminals:
# Color data frame 7 x 2:
│ID │String│Factor│Number│Integer│Logical│Pvalue
1│ ID1│foo │foo │ 12.1│ 12│TRUE │0.001
2│ ID2│baz │baz │ -3.1│ -13│FALSE │0.314
Default theme: light
Change it with `options(colorDF_theme="<theme name>")`
You can add your own themes using add_colorDF_theme() (see the example section on the help page).
Styles of a colorDF object can be directly manipulated using df_style:
mtcars.c <- colorDF(mtcars)
df_style(mtcars.c, "sep") <- "; "If interested, read the help file for df_style().
colorDF comes with two utility functions. Firstly, it defines a summary method for colorful data frames which can also be used for any other data frame like object and which I find much more useful than the regular summary:
starwars %>% as.colorDF %>% summary# Color data frame 5 x 13:
│Col │Class│NAs │unique
1│name │<chr>│ 0│ 87
2│height │<int>│ 6│ 46
3│mass │<dbl>│ 28│ 39
4│hair_color│<chr>│ 5│ 13
5│skin_color│<chr>│ 0│ 31
6│eye_color │<chr>│ 0│ 15
7│birth_year│<dbl>│ 44│ 37
8│gender │<chr>│ 3│ 5
9│homeworld │<chr>│ 10│ 49
10│species │<chr>│ 5│ 38
11│films │<lst>│ 0│ 24
12│vehicles │<lst>│ 0│ 11
13│starships │<lst>│ 0│ 17
│Summary
1│All values unique
2│ 66 [167 <180> 191] 264
3│ 15 [ 56 < 79> 84] 1358
4│none: 37, brown: 18, black: 13, white: 4, ...
5│fair: 17, light: 11, dark: 6, green: 6, ...
6│brown: 21, blue: 19, yellow: 11, black: 10, ...
7│ 8 [ 35 < 52> 72] 896
8│male: 62, female: 19, none: 2, ...
9│Naboo: 11, Tatooine: 10, ...
10│Human: 35, Droid: 5, Gungan: 3, ...
11│Attack of th...: 13, ...
12│character(0): 76, ...
13│character(0): 67, X-wing: 3, ...
There is a directly visible (exported) version of the colorful summary called summary_colorDF:
starwars %>% summary_colorDFThe highlight() function allows to mark selected rows from the table:
foo <- starwars %>% select(name, species, homeworld) %>%
highlight(.$homeworld == "Tatooine")# Tibble 3 x 87:
(Showing rows 1 - 20 out of 87)
│name │species │homeworld
1│Luke Skywalker │Human │Tatooine
2│C-3PO │Droid │Tatooine
3│R2-D2 │Droid │Naboo
4│Darth Vader │Human │Tatooine
5│Leia Organa │Human │Alderaan
6│Owen Lars │Human │Tatooine
7│Beru Whitesun lars │Human │Tatooine
8│R5-D4 │Droid │Tatooine
9│Biggs Darklighter │Human │Tatooine
10│Obi-Wan Kenobi │Human │Stewjon
11│Anakin Skywalker │Human │Tatooine
12│Wilhuff Tarkin │Human │Eriadu
13│Chewbacca │Wookiee │Kashyyyk
14│Han Solo │Human │Corellia
15│Greedo │Rodian │Rodia
16│Jabba Desilijic Tiure│Hutt │Nal Hutta
17│Wedge Antilles │Human │Corellia
18│Jek Tono Porkins │Human │Bestine IV
19│Yoda │Yoda's species│NA
20│Palpatine │Human │Naboo
(Unfortunately, the HTML representation of the ANSI terminal doesn’t show that one correctly).
You can use colorDF as the default method for displaying data frames and similar objects. For this, you need to use the colorDF:::print.colorDF function:
## for regular data frames
print.data.frame <- colorDF:::print.colorDF
## for tidyverse tibbles
print.tbl <- colorDF:::print.colorDF
## for data.tables
print.data.table <- colorDF:::print.colorDFThis will not replace or modify the original functions from data.table or tibble packages, but merely mask these. And from now on, every data frame like object will be shown in color, but otherwise, its behavior will not change.
Should you want to go back to the original print functions, just remove these new functions:
rm(print.data.frame, print.tbl, print.data.table)There are two global options which override whatever has been defined in a particular theme / style.
colorDF_tibble_style: if not NULL, tibble conventions will be used (i.e., show only columns which fit on the screen and create a subheader with column classes)colorDF_sep: column separator stringcolorDF_n: how many rows to show on the screenFor example,
options(colorDF_tibble_style="yes please")
options(colorDF_sep= " ")
options(colorDF_n=5)
colorDF(starwars)# Color data frame 13 x 87:
(Showing rows 1 - 5 out of 87)
name height mass hair_color skin_color eye_color birth_year
1 Luke Skywalker 172 77 blond fair blue 19
2 C-3PO 167 75 NA gold yellow 112
3 R2-D2 96 32 NA white, blue red 33
4 Darth Vader 202 136 none white yellow 42
5 Leia Organa 150 49 brown light brown 19
gender homeworld species films vehicles starships
1 male Tatooine Human <list: 5 el> <list: 2 el> <list: 2 el>
2 NA Tatooine Droid <list: 6 el> <list: 0 el> <list: 0 el>
3 NA Naboo Droid <list: 7 el> <list: 0 el> <list: 0 el>
4 male Tatooine Human <list: 4 el> <list: 0 el> <list: 1 el>
5 female Alderaan Human <list: 5 el> <list: 1 el> <list: 0 el>
The package is intended to be used in terminal. However, as you see above, it is possible to get the colored tables also in an rmarkdown document. For this, include the following chunk at the beginning of your document:
```{r echo=FALSE}
options(crayon.enabled = TRUE)
knitr::knit_hooks$set(output = function(x, options){
paste0(
'<pre class="r-output"><code>',
fansi::sgr_to_html(x = htmltools::htmlEscape(x), warn = FALSE),
'</code></pre>'
)
})
```Currently, colorDF relies on the crayon library to generate the ANSI escape codes. Unfortunately, crayon is peculiar about trying to guess the terminal type. Without going into details, there are situations in which it is not possible to force crayon into using 256 colors, even if you know that it really works. One such example is this vignette: if an rmarkdown file is built from command line, crayon will ignore any setting of the crayon.colors option and use only the base colors.
The reason that the colors in this vignette appear correct is that I used an ugly hack to substitute the crayon::num_colors() function by a function that always returns 256:
```{r echo=FALSE}
num_colors <- function(forget=TRUE) 256
library(crayon)
assignInNamespace("num_colors", num_colors, pos="package:crayon")
```