This vignette is meant for those who wish to contribute to {gtsummary}, or users who wish to gain an understanding of the inner-workings of a {gtsummary} object so they may more easily modify them to suit your own needs. If this does not describe you, please refer to the {gtsummary} website to an introduction on how to use the package’s functions and tutorials on advanced use.
Every {gtsummary} table has a few characteristics common among all tables created with the package. Here, we review those characteristics, and provide instructions on how to construct a {gtsummary} object.
Every {gtsummary} object is a list comprising of, at minimum, these elements:
The .$table_body object is the data frame that will
ultimately be printed as the output. The table must include columns
"label", "row_type", and
"variable". The "label" column is printed, and
the other two are hidden from the final output.
tbl_summary_ex$table_body
#> # A tibble: 8 × 7
#> variable var_type row_type var_label label stat_1 stat_2
#> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr>
#> 1 age continuous label Age Age 46 (37, 60) 48 (3…
#> 2 age continuous missing Age Unknown 7 4
#> 3 grade categorical label Grade Grade <NA> <NA>
#> 4 grade categorical level Grade I 35 (36%) 33 (3…
#> 5 grade categorical level Grade II 32 (33%) 36 (3…
#> 6 grade categorical level Grade III 31 (32%) 33 (3…
#> 7 response dichotomous label Tumor Response Tumor Response 28 (29%) 33 (3…
#> 8 response dichotomous missing Tumor Response Unknown 3 4The .$table_styling object is a list of data frames
containing information about how .$table_body is printed,
formatted, and styled.
The list contains the following data frames header,
footnote, footnote_abbrev,
fmt_fun, text_format,
fmt_missing, cols_merge and the following
objects source_note, caption,
horizontal_line_above.
header
The header table has the following columns and is one
row per column found in .$table_body. The table contains
styling information that applies to entire column or the columns
headers.
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| column | Column name from .$table_body |
| hide | Logical indicating whether the column is hidden in the output. This column is also scoped in modify_header() (and friends) to be used in a selecting environment |
| align | Specifies the alignment/justification of the column, e.g. ‘center’ or ‘left’ |
| label | Label that will be displayed (if column is displayed in output) |
| interpret_label | the {gt} function that is used to interpret the column label, gt::md() or gt::html() |
| spanning_header | Includes text printed above columns as spanning headers. |
| interpret_spanning_header | the {gt} function that is used to interpret the column spanning headers, gt::md() or gt::html() |
| modify_stat_{*} | any column beginning with modify_stat_ is a statistic available to report in modify_header() (and others) |
| modify_selector_{*} | any column beginning with modify_selector_ is a column that is scoped in modify_header() (and friends) to be used in a selecting environment |
footnote &
footnote_abbrev
Each {gtsummary} table may contain a single footnote per header and
cell within the table. Footnotes and footnote abbreviations are handled
separately. Updates/changes to footnote are appended to the bottom of
the tibble. A footnote of NA_character_ deletes an existing
footnote.
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| column | Column name from .$table_body |
| rows | expression selecting rows in .$table_body, NA indicates to add footnote to header |
| footnote | string containing footnote to add to column/row |
fmt_fun
Numeric columns/rows are styled with the functions stored in
fmt_fun. Updates/changes to styling functions are appended
to the bottom of the tibble.
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| column | Column name from .$table_body |
| rows | expression selecting rows in .$table_body |
| fmt_fun | list of formatting/styling functions |
text_format
Columns/rows are styled with bold, italic, or indenting stored in
text_format. Updates/changes to styling functions are
appended to the bottom of the tibble.
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| column | Column name from .$table_body |
| rows | expression selecting rows in .$table_body |
| format_type | one of c('bold', 'italic', 'indent') |
| undo_text_format | logical indicating where the formatting indicated should be undone/removed. |
fmt_missing
By default, all NA values are shown blanks. Missing
values in columns/rows are replaced with the symbol. For
example, reference rows in tbl_regression() are shown with
an em-dash. Updates/changes to styling functions are appended to the
bottom of the tibble.
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| column | Column name from .$table_body |
| rows | expression selecting rows in .$table_body |
| symbol | string to replace missing values with, e.g. an em-dash |
cols_merge
This object is experimental and may change in the future.
This tibble gives instructions for merging columns into a single column.
The implementation in as_gt() will be updated after
gt::cols_label() gains a rows= argument.
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| column | Column name from .$table_body |
| rows | expression selecting rows in .$table_body |
| pattern | glue pattern directing how to combine/merge columns. The merged columns will replace the column indicated in ‘column’. |
source_note
String that is made a table source note. The attribute
"text_interpret" is either
c("md", "html").
caption
String that is made into the table caption. The attribute
"text_interpret" is either
c("md", "html").
horizontal_line_above
Expression identifying a row where a horizontal line is placed above in the table.
Example from tbl_regression()
tbl_regression_ex$table_styling
#> $header
#> # A tibble: 24 × 8
#> column hide align interpret_label label interpret_spanning_h…¹
#> <chr> <lgl> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr>
#> 1 variable TRUE center gt::md varia… gt::md
#> 2 var_label TRUE center gt::md var_l… gt::md
#> 3 var_type TRUE center gt::md var_t… gt::md
#> 4 reference_row TRUE center gt::md refer… gt::md
#> 5 row_type TRUE center gt::md row_t… gt::md
#> 6 header_row TRUE center gt::md heade… gt::md
#> 7 N_obs TRUE center gt::md N_obs gt::md
#> 8 N TRUE center gt::md **N** gt::md
#> 9 coefficients_type TRUE center gt::md coeff… gt::md
#> 10 coefficients_label TRUE center gt::md coeff… gt::md
#> # ℹ 14 more rows
#> # ℹ abbreviated name: ¹interpret_spanning_header
#> # ℹ 2 more variables: spanning_header <chr>, modify_stat_N <int>
#>
#> $footnote
#> # A tibble: 0 × 4
#> # ℹ 4 variables: column <chr>, rows <list>, text_interpret <chr>,
#> # footnote <chr>
#>
#> $footnote_abbrev
#> # A tibble: 2 × 4
#> column rows text_interpret footnote
#> <chr> <list> <chr> <chr>
#> 1 conf.low <quosure> gt::md CI = Confidence Interval
#> 2 std.error <quosure> gt::md SE = Standard Error
#>
#> $text_format
#> # A tibble: 1 × 4
#> column rows format_type undo_text_format
#> <chr> <list> <chr> <lgl>
#> 1 p.value <quosure> bold FALSE
#>
#> $indent
#> # A tibble: 2 × 3
#> column rows n_spaces
#> <chr> <list> <int>
#> 1 label <lgl [1]> 0
#> 2 label <quosure> 4
#>
#> $fmt_missing
#> # A tibble: 4 × 3
#> column rows symbol
#> <chr> <list> <chr>
#> 1 estimate <quosure> —
#> 2 conf.low <quosure> —
#> 3 std.error <quosure> —
#> 4 statistic <quosure> —
#>
#> $fmt_fun
#> # A tibble: 10 × 3
#> column rows fmt_fun
#> <chr> <list> <list>
#> 1 estimate <quosure> <fn>
#> 2 N <quosure> <fn>
#> 3 N_obs <quosure> <fn>
#> 4 n_obs <quosure> <fn>
#> 5 conf.low <quosure> <fn>
#> 6 conf.high <quosure> <fn>
#> 7 p.value <quosure> <fn>
#> 8 std.error <quosure> <fn>
#> 9 statistic <quosure> <fn>
#> 10 var_nlevels <quosure> <fn>
#>
#> $cols_merge
#> # A tibble: 1 × 3
#> column rows pattern
#> <chr> <list> <chr>
#> 1 conf.low <quosure> {conf.low}, {conf.high}When constructing a {gtsummary} object, the author will begin with
the .$table_body object. Recall the
.$table_body data frame must include columns
"label", "row_type", and
"variable". Of these columns, only the "label"
column will be printed with the final results. The
"row_type" column typically will control whether or not the
label column is indented. The "variable" column is often
used in the inline_text() family of functions, and merging
{gtsummary} tables with tbl_merge().
tbl_regression_ex %>%
getElement("table_body") %>%
select(variable, row_type, label)
#> # A tibble: 5 × 3
#> variable row_type label
#> <chr> <chr> <chr>
#> 1 grade label Grade
#> 2 grade level I
#> 3 grade level II
#> 4 grade level III
#> 5 marker label Marker Level (ng/mL)The other columns in .$table_body are created by the
user and are likely printed in the output. Formatting and printing
instructions for these columns is stored in
.$table_styling.
There are a few internal {gtsummary} functions to assist in
constructing and modifying a .$table_header data frame.
.create_gtsummary_object(table_body) After a user
creates a table_body, pass it to this function and the
skeleton of a gtsummary object is created and returned (including the
full table_styling list of tables).
.update_table_styling() After columns are added or
removed from table_body, run this function to update
.$table_styling to include or remove styling instructions
for the columns. FYI the default styling for each new column is to hide
it.
modify_table_styling() This exported function
modifies the printing instructions for a single column or groups of
columns.
modify_table_body() This exported function helps
users make changes to .$table_body. The function runs
.update_table_styling() internally to maintain internal
validity with the printing instructions.
All {gtsummary} objects are printed with
print.gtsummary(). Before a {gtsummary} object is printed,
it is converted to a {gt} object using as_gt(). This
function takes the {gtsummary} object as its input, and uses the
information in .$table_styling to construct a list of {gt}
calls that will be executed on .$table_body. After the
{gtsummary} object is converted to {gt}, it is then printed as any other
{gt} object.
In some cases, the package defaults to printing with other engines,
such as flextable (as_flex_table()), huxtable
(as_hux_table()), kableExtra
(as_kable_extra()), and kable (as_kable()).
The default print engine is set with the theme element
"pkgwide-str:print_engine"
While the actual print function is slightly more involved, it is basically this:
.$cards objectWhen a gtsummary function is called that requires new statistics, these new calculations are stored in a tibble. These tibbles are often calculated with functions from the {cards} and {cardx} packages.
These structured tibbles store labels for statistics, functions to format them, and more. See the {cards} package documentation for details.
tbl_summary_ex$cards[["tbl_summary"]]
#> {cards} data frame: 76 x 12
#> group1 group1_level variable variable_level stat_name stat_label stat
#> 1 trt Drug A grade I n n 35
#> 2 trt Drug A grade I N N 98
#> 3 trt Drug A grade I p % 0.357
#> 4 trt Drug B grade I n n 33
#> 5 trt Drug B grade I N N 102
#> 6 trt Drug B grade I p % 0.324
#> 7 trt Drug A grade II n n 32
#> 8 trt Drug A grade II N N 98
#> 9 trt Drug A grade II p % 0.327
#> 10 trt Drug B grade II n n 36
#> gts_column
#> 1 stat_1
#> 2 stat_1
#> 3 stat_1
#> 4 stat_2
#> 5 stat_2
#> 6 stat_2
#> 7 stat_1
#> 8 stat_1
#> 9 stat_1
#> 10 stat_2
#> ℹ 66 more rows
#> ℹ Use `print(n = ...)` to see more rows
#> ℹ 4 more variables: context, fmt_fn, warning, error