Formatting Numbers and Strings in R Programming – format() Function

format() function in R Programming Language is used to format strings and numbers in a specified style.

Syntax: format(x, digits, nsmall, scientific, width, justify = c(“left”, “right”, “center”, “none”)) 

Parameters:

• x: is the vector input.
• digits: is the total number of digits displayed.
• nsmall: is the minimum number of digits to the right of the decimal point.
• scientific: is set to TRUE to display scientific notation.
• width: indicates the minimum width to be displayed by padding blanks in the beginning.
• justify: is the display of the string to left, right, or center.

String formatting in R

Example: In this example, we are going will work with string formatting in R programming using format() method.

R

# Placing string in the left side
result1 <- format("GFG", width = 8,  justify = "l")

# Placing string in the center
result2 <- format("GFG", width = 8,  justify = "c")

# Placing string in the right
result3 <- format("GFG", width = 8,  justify = "r")

# Getting the different string placement
print(result1)
print(result2)
print(result3)

Output:

[1] "GFG     "
[1] "  GFG   "
[1] "     GFG"

Number formatting in R

Here we will use format() method for number formatting in R programming.

Example 1:

R

# R program to illustrate
# format function

# Calling the format() function over
# different arguments

# Rounding off the specified digits
# into 4 digits
result1 < - format(12.3456789, digits=4)
result2 < - format(12.3456789, digits=6)
print(result1)
print(result2)

# Getting the specified minimum number of digits
# to the right of the decimal point.
result3 < - format(12.3456789, nsmall=2)
result4 < - format(12.3456789, nsmall=7)
print(result3)
print(result4)

Output:

[1] "12.35"
[1] "12.3457"
[1] "12.34568"
[1] "12.3456789"

Example 2:

R

# R program to illustrate
# format function

# Calling the format() function over
# different arguments

# Getting the number in the string form
result1 < - format(1234)
result2 < - format(12.3456789)
print(result1)
print(result2)

# Display numbers in scientific notation
result3 < - format(12.3456789, scientific=TRUE)
result4 < - format(12.3456789, scientific=FALSE)
print(result3)
print(result4)

Output:

[1] "1234"
[1] "12.34568"
[1] "1.234568e+01"
[1] "12.34568"